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Strabismus is not only a disease of the visual system, but also a cosmetic defect. In addition to serious visual impairment, a person suffering from strabismus experiences discomfort and self-doubt, it is difficult for him to communicate and adapt in the team.
What is strabismus
When the muscles of the visual system are developed differently, the eye begins to look in the wrong direction. The weakening of certain muscles does not fix the eye in the right direction. The binocular vision of a healthy person merges two pictures that receive the right and left eye into one single three-dimensional image. People who have strabismus receive so different pictures from the right and left eyes that the brain cannot connect them together. Therefore, often children with strabismus are poorly oriented in space, cannot accurately determine the shape of the subject. Gradually, if the squint is not treated, the body begins to reject the pictures of the “sick” eye and does not take them into account. This is how amblyopia develops.
Amblyopia is a reaction of the body to a split image. The brain cannot get a single and accurate image, so the nervous system blocks the picture coming from the "squinting" eye. Over time, the sore eye loses visual acuity and the ability to focus on a specific subject. Amblyopia develops very quickly in young children, which is why it is very important, under the first conditions of strabismus, to show the child to a competent ophthalmologist.
Causes of strabismus in children and adults
Normally, in young children, the eyes can “swim”. That is, they are not yet fixed in one position due to weakness of the eye muscles. Such "swimming" of the pupils is allowed a maximum of six months of life. If the eyes are mowed after the seventh month of the child’s life, this is considered a pathology and a serious reason to contact a children's optometrist. Here are a few main reasons why strabismus may appear.
- Strabismus is congenital or acquired. Normally, a newborn baby is diagnosed with hyperopia in about 3 diopters. Over time, vision improves. But sometimes farsightedness can be stronger than usual. In this case, to examine the surrounding objects, the child begins to strain his eyes. Due to weak visual muscles, the pupils may blur and begin to look in different directions. This is one of the main causes of strabismus.
- Strabismus is one of the diseases that is inherited. This does not mean that if you have strabismus, your children will also suffer from it. Just the risk of illness in blood relatives is very high. If there is strabismus in the family, you need to carefully monitor the health of your eyes.
- Anomalies in the development of eye muscles can occur in a child in the womb. This may be the result of infections, fever, illness, or a side effect of strong medications taken during pregnancy.
- Acquired strabismus is also not uncommon. It can occur as a result of diseases of the nervous system, head or eye injury, severe psychological shock, decreased vision of one eye. In children, strabismus can develop from a past infection or undetected astigmatism.
Strabismus is friendly or paralytic. In the first case, the eyes deviate from the norm in all positions at the same distance. Paralytic strabismus is characterized by paralysis of one of the eye muscles. Strabismus is also divided into convergent, divergent, vertical and mixed. This separation is made according to the type of pupil deflection.
Can strabismus be cured?
Of course you can. Especially if you start treatment as early as possible, until amblyopia has developed and the vision of the patient’s eyes has not begun to fall. Treatment for strabismus can be therapeutic and surgical, depending on the degree of deviation from the norm and the cause of strabismus. If strabismus is caused by an eye disease - astigmatism, myopia or farsightedness, then this disease must be treated. Usually, eye correction is enough to restore eye health. For example, wearing glasses or contact lenses, selected after an individual and thorough diagnosis.
Sometimes, in order to activate the "lazy" eye so that it does not lose visual acuity, a healthy eye is closed with a blindfold. Also very successfully used corrective glasses for strabismus, which correct the angle of view. Such glasses need to be constantly changed as the pupil straightens. This treatment method is especially effective in children, because their nervous system is still very malleable.
It is believed that strabismus can pass by itself. This opinion applies only to children under 6 months of age. If strabismus persists after this age or appears later, one cannot hope and wait for strabismus to pass by itself. Timely treatment started is half the success. Moreover, modern technologies for the development of medicine offer operations that completely eliminate strabismus and restore visual acuity.
Strabismus exercises
I would like to note that the treatment of strabismus without surgical intervention is a long journey in several months and even years. But with the right approach and following all the doctor’s prescriptions, you can completely get rid of this disease. The most effective is to strengthen the eye muscles with the help of special exercises.
- Stand straight and reach out in front of you. Focus on one finger. Then you need to slowly bring your finger to your face, and then slowly bring it back. The head is motionless, only the pupils follow one point. After that, move your finger left, right, up and down. Repeat each movement 5 times.
- Stand at the window and stick a picture with bright colors on the glass. View the picture at arm's length. Then look at the antenna of the neighboring house or any other object in the distance. After 30 seconds, look again at the picture. Thus, you focus your vision on the distant and near objects, this is an excellent exercise for training the eye muscles. Separately, the exercise can be done with one sore eye.
- The next exercise is the figure eight. Pupils need to draw a huge eight in front of them. The movements should be smooth, try not to cut corners. After that, try to make an inverted figure of eight - a sign of infinity. Do the exercise slowly and carefully.
- Have you been to the tennis court? This is a great place to practice your eyesight. Constant change of position of the ball makes you move your eyes from side to side. Instead of tennis, any ball games are suitable - volleyball or basketball. You can watch the game or participate in it - it is equally useful for vision.
- Train the eye that mows. Close the blind eye with a healthy eye and try to look with a sick eye in the direction where he does not want to turn. Look at a bright object with at least lateral vision, train an undeveloped muscle.
- If you encounter strabismus in a small child, he will not be able to consciously perform exercises for the eyes. Therefore, show him colorful images that need to be placed to the right and left of him. Constantly ask - “Where is the bird?”, “Where is the ant?” So that the child involuntarily trains the muscles of the eyes, looking up and down.
Patient daily work will help restore a sore eye. Regular exercise will make you not only healthy, but also a confident person.This is evidenced by a huge number of positive reviews from people who defeated this ailment. Be healthy and happy!
Video: how to return a direct look
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