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Squint, or strabismus, occurs when the eyes are misaligned and point in different directions. There are several types of squint depending on which way the eye turns, such as esotropia where the eye turns inward. Squint can be caused by problems with eye muscles or a significant refractive error between the eyes. Treatment involves correcting refractive errors or weakening/strengthening eye muscles surgically, though surgery may not fully correct the squint.

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Tayma Alamrat
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31 views

LF Squ PDF

Squint, or strabismus, occurs when the eyes are misaligned and point in different directions. There are several types of squint depending on which way the eye turns, such as esotropia where the eye turns inward. Squint can be caused by problems with eye muscles or a significant refractive error between the eyes. Treatment involves correcting refractive errors or weakening/strengthening eye muscles surgically, though surgery may not fully correct the squint.

Uploaded by

Tayma Alamrat
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Squint

Features
In people with a squint, the eyes are misaligned and they point towards different directions,
with the squinting eye turning inwards, outwards, upwards or downwards. However, people who are
mildly affected may look perfectly normal. On the other hand, people may appear to have squint
when their eyes are actually normal and well aligned due to a broad nose bridge that gives the
illusionary appearance of squint. This condition, called pseudo-squint, is very common among
children.

Classification
A. Direction of the squinting eye

1. Esotropia / Exotropia:
a. An eye that turns towards the nose bridge is called an esotropia
b. An eye that turns towards the ear is called an exotropia

Left esotropia Left exotropia

2. Hypertropia / Hypotropia:
a. An eye that turns upwards is called a hypertropia
b. An eye that turns downwards is called a hypotropia

Left hypotropia Left hypertropia

B. Manifest or Latent Squint


1. Manifest Squint: When one focuses on an object, one eye deviates away from the object. It
can be further divided into constant squint and intermittent squint.
a. Constant squint is present at all times
b. Intermittent squint comes and goes

2. Latent Squint: The appearance is normal most of the time. The squint only appears under
certain conditions e.g. very tired or under the influence of alcohol.
Causes
Squint is caused by failure of our two eyes to look at objects in a coordinated manner. This
coordination depends on the normal functioning of our brain, optic nerve and a total of twelve
muscles around our eyes that enables the two images from our eyes to superimpose on each other
and to form a three dimensional image. Any congenital problems or those that occur after birth
causing disorders of the brain, optic nerve or eye muscles can compromise this coordination and
leads to squint.

In some cases, when there is a significant difference in the refractive error between our two
eyes and the condition is not rectified, making the two images from our eyes fail to superimpose on
each other, it will also lead to squint.

Prevalence
The most common being exotropia, followed by esotropia, with relatively few cases of
hypetropia or hypotropia. Though exotropia is the most common type of squint, the adverse effects
on the eyes (loss of stereopsis or amblyopia) occur less often than in esotropia, hypertropia or
hypotropia.

Prevention
- In most cases of congenital squint, as the cause is unknown, there are no effective preventive
measures.
- Avoid injuries because injury to the nerves supplying eye muscles can also lead to squint.
- Squint caused by significant difference in refractive error between the eyes can be prevented
by having regular eye checks and wearing suitable glasses.

Treatment
Any significant difference in refractive error between the eyes should be corrected first. This
improves vision and may even straighten the eye in some cases where refractive error is responsible
for the squint. Otherwise, treatment of squint is mainly achieved by surgical procedures that involve
weakening or strengthening of the relevant eye muscles to restore balance and to get a good
coordination. Nevertheless, most surgical procedures can only improve the appearance of the eyes
without completely correcting the squint. Hence, any need for surgery should take into
consideration the inflicted person’s perception about the severity of the cosmetic problem caused by
the squint. Other factors to be considered include the age at presentation and whether amblyopia is
present. In cases where the age is less than eight and there is amblyopia, surgical procedures would
help rectify amblyopia. If the child is more than eight years old and there is no amblyopia, surgical
procedures are in general not indicated and might even lead to double vision as a possible
post-operative complication.

Student Health Service


Department of Health
www.studenthealth.gov.hk
2010

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