Strabismus Crossed eyes Homeopathic Treatment

Six different muscles surround each eye and work "as a team." This allows both eyes to focus on the same object.

In someone with strabismus, these muscles do not work together. As a result, one eye looks at one object, while the other eye turns in a different direction and looks at another object.

When this occurs, two different images are sent to the brain -- one from each eye. This confuses the brain. In children, the brain may learn to ignore (suppress) the image from the weaker eye.

If the strabismus is not treated, the eye that the brain ignores will never see well. This loss of vision is called amblyopia. Another name for amblyopia is "lazy eye." Sometimes lazy eye is present first, and it causes strabismus.

In most children with strabismus, the cause is unknown. In more than one half of these cases, the problem is present at or shortly after birth. This is called congenital strabismus.

Most of the time, the problem has to do with muscle control, and not with muscle strength.

Other disorders associated with strabismus in children include:

Apert syndrome

Cerebral palsy

Congenital rubella

Hemangioma near the eye during infancy

Incontinentia pigmenti syndrome

Noonan syndrome

Prader-Willi syndrome

Retinopathy of prematurity

Retinoblastoma

Traumatic brain injury

Trisomy 18

Strabismus that develops in adults can be caused by:

Botulism

Diabetes (causes a condition known as acquired paralytic strabismus)

Graves disease

Guillain-Barré syndrome

Injury to the eye

Shellfish poisoning

Stroke

Traumatic brain injury

Vision loss from any eye disease or injury

A family history of strabismus is a risk factor. Farsightedness may be a contributing factor, often in children. Any other disease that causes vision loss may also cause strabismus.

By the age of 3 to 4 months, an infant's eyes should be able to focus on small objects and the eyes should be straight and well-aligned. A 6-month-old infant should be able to focus on objects both near and far.

Strabismus usually appears in infants and young children, and most often by the time a child is 3 years old. However, older children and even adults can develop strabismus. The sudden appearance of strabismus, especially with double vision, in an older child or adult could indicate a more serious neurologic disorder. When observing a person with strabismus, the misalignment of the eyes may be quite apparent. A person with a constant eye turn of significant magnitude is very easy to notice. However, a small magnitude or intermittent strabismus can easily be missed upon casual observation. In any case, an eye care professional can conduct various tests, such as cover testing, to determine the full extent of the strabismus.

Lazy eyes

Blurred vision

Difficulty in reading Eyes that do not aim in the same direction

Crossed eyes

Double vision

Eye strain

Uncoordinated eye movements eyes do not move together

Headache

Loss of vision or depth perception

It is important to note that children may never be aware of double vision. This is because amblyopia can develop quickly.

Strabismus can be categorized by the direction of the turned or misaligned eye:

Inward turning (esotropia)

Outward turning (exotropia)

Upward turning (hypertropia)

Downward turning (hypotropia)

It may be of 3 sub types 

1. Converge - When the eye turn in

2. Diverge - when eye turn out. 

3. Sometimes turn up or down, preventing the eyes from working properly together.

There are several forms of strabismus.

The two most common clinical  are:

Accommodative esotropia: This often occurs in cases of uncorrected farsightedness and a genetic predisposition (family history) for the eyes to turn in. Because the ability to focus is linked to where the eyes are pointing, the extra focusing effort needed to keep distant objects in clear focus may cause the eyes to turn inward. Symptoms include double vision, closing or covering one eye when looking at something near, and tilting or turning the head. This type of strabismus typically starts in the first few years of life. This condition is usually treated with glasses, but may also require eye patching and/or surgery on the muscles of one or both eyes.

Intermittent exotropia: In this type of strabismus, one eye will fixate (concentrate) on a target while the other eye is pointing outward. Symptoms may include double vision, headaches, difficulty reading, eyestrain, and closing one eye when viewing far away objects or when in bright light. Patients may have no symptoms while the ocular deviation (difference) may be noticed by others. Intermittent exotropia can happen at any age. Treatment may involve glasses, patching, eye exercises and/or surgery on the muscles of one or both eyes.

Another type of strabismus is called infantile esotropia. This condition is marked by a large amount of inward turning of both eyes in infants that typically starts before six months of age. There is usually no significant amount of farsightedness present and glasses do not correct the crossing. Inward turning may start on an irregular basis, but soon becomes constant in nature. It is present when the child is looking far away and up close. The treatment for this type of strabismus is surgery on the muscles of one or both eyes to correct the alignment.

Adults can also experience strabismus. Most commonly, ocular misalignment in adults is due to stroke, but it can also occur from physical trauma or from a childhood strabismus that was not previously treated or has recurred or progressed. Strabismus in adults can be treated in a variety of ways, including observation, patching, prism glasses and/or strabismus surgery.

Anyone older than four months of age who appears to have strabismus should have a complete eye examination by a pediatric ophthalmologist, with extra time spent examining how the eyes focus and move. The exam may include the following:

Patient history (to determine the symptoms the patient is having, family history, general health problems, medications being used and any other possible causes of symptoms)

Visual acuity (reading letters from an eye chart, or examining young children’s visual behavior)

Refraction (checking the eyes with a series of corrective lenses to measure how they focus light). Children do not have to be old enough to give verbal feedback when checking for glasses.

Alignment and focus tests

Examination after dilation (widening) of the pupils to determine the health of internal eye structures

A central nervous system evaluation will often be performed on patients with a subgroup of intermediate Iritis Anterior Uveitis, called pars planitis, to determine whether they have multiple sclerosis which is often associated with pars planitis.

The eye exams used include:

An Eye Chart or Visual Acuity Test. This test measures whether a patient’s vision has decreased.

A Funduscopic Exam. The pupil is widened (dilated) with eye drops and then a light is shown through with an instrument called an ophthalmoscope to noninvasively inspect the back, inside part of the eye.

Ocular Pressure. An instrument, such a tonometer or a tonopen, measures the pressure inside the eye. Drops that numb the eye may be used for this test.

A Slit Lamp Exam. A slit lamp noninvasively inspects much of the eye. It can inspect the front and back parts of the eye and some lamps may be equipped with a tonometer to measure eye pressure. A dye called fluorescein, which makes blood vessels easier to see, may be added to the eye during the examination. The dye only temporarily stains the eye.

Homeopathic treatment for squint is very effective for mild to moderate cases. They help in strengthening the eye muscles gently and naturally. Under this treatment, homeopathy medicines along with eye exercises provide the best assistance to the patient. But in severe cases of squint, homeopathic medicines provide supportive treatment in conjunction with the conventional mode. It helps in managing the symptoms related to vision. Homeopathy treatment for squint is natural and has no side effects. They are safe to use for all ages.

Homeopathy treats the person as a whole on wholistic concept. It means that homeopathic treatment focuses on the patient as a person, as well as his pathological condition based on symptoms.Symptoms are sign of internal turbulance or loss of equilibrium. The homeopathic medicines are selected after a full individualizing examination and case-analysis, which includes the medical history of the patient, physical and mental constitution, family history, presenting symptoms, underlying pathology, possible causative factors etc.  A homeopathy doctor tries to treat more than just the presenting symptoms. The focus is usually on what caused the disease condition especially. Why this patient is sick in this way while others not in same house or condition. The disease diagnosis is important but in homeopathy, the cause of disease is not just probed to the level of bacteria and viruses. Other factors like mental, emotional and physical stress that could predispose a person to illness are also looked for. No a days, even modern medicine also considers a large number of diseases as psychosomatic. The correct homeopathy remedy tries to correct this disease predisposition. The focus is not on curing the disease but to cure the person who is sick, to restore the health. If a disease pathology is not very advanced, homeopathy remedies do give a hope for cure but even in incurable cases, the quality of life can be greatly improved with homeopathic medicines.