Children’s strabismus

The main manifestation of childhood strabismus is the eye deviation itself. However, this is not always visible to the naked eye, especially when it is intermittent and only becomes evident in certain circumstances, particularly in a state of fatigue or weakness (a feverish process, sleepiness, at the end of the day, etc.). Seeing an ophthalmologist regularly for a comprehensive eye check-up can help prevent these cases from going unnoticed.

There are different types of childhood strabismus, depending on the causes that generate them. An important group is due to the presence of refractive errors, which are very common in childhood and can cause the eye to deviate in order to focus properly. This is the first cause to be ruled out, but there are also other less frequent pathologies that can cause it, such as eyelid ptosis, retinal detachment or even neurological disorders or tumours.

On other occasions, childhood strabismus has no known cause, although the chances of suffering from it increase, if there is a family history or the child has been premature.

Based on the ophthalmological diagnosis, we can choose different treatment options. If it is accompanied by a refractive error, it is often enough to prescribe glasses with the appropriate prescription. If we are dealing with a lazy eye, we have to encourage its use, either through optical correction, occlusion patches, etc. Vision therapy may also be indicated in some cases. If strabismus persists, despite correcting these associated problems, it may be necessary to act on the extraocular muscles that control eye movement to modify their action. This involves techniques such as botulinum toxin injections to temporarily weaken the action of certain muscles or surgery for childhood strabismus, which is performed by specialists in paediatric ophthalmology at the Miranza clinics.