When one eye focuses on a different spot than the other, it
is called the lazy eye or a squint. Strabismus is the scientific term
for eye turn, which has two variations; if the eye turns outwards away
from the nose, the condition is referred to as exotropia, and inwards is
called esotropia, if one of the eyes turns upwards, the condition is
called hypertropia.
The squint eye condition may be constant or occasional. The
misalignment of the eyes causes the person to either experience double
vision, where both eyes transmit two separate images to the brain;
person has trouble with depth perception, or is unable to see objects in
3D; and the person develops abnormal binocular vision. For constant eye
turn, glasses with different prescription are worn, one for closer
vision and the other further away. Usually, one eye will be able to see
objects clearly, and with one or two dimension, where the other
struggles and sees blurred objects. If this happens, the eye with the
blurred vision will prevent it from developing normally, turning it into
the lazy eye, or Amblyopia.
For normal vision to develop both eyes are meant to focus
on the same image equally. The brain requires both signals from each eye
to be identical in order to create an image. If one of the images
received is blurred, or misaligned due to astigmatism or strabismus, the
brain works to shut one eye’s function down, as it finds it difficult
to workout depth and shape. The good eye is therefore preferred by the
brain, which will use it all the time, ignoring the weak or affected
one. This will cause one eye to be strong and the other to weaken as
time goes on. Glasses are worn from early age, to prevent or slow the
progress of the lazy eye, as it will be some time, before the brain does
write off the affected eye. However, the eye causing blurred or
misaligned vision will not have its vision restored to 20/20. The first
step to treatment is to correct the alignment of both eyes, so they work
together. Correcting blurred vision will be the second step after
strabismus has been cured. Once your child has obtained their new
prescription glasses to correct alignment issues, the visual acuity
should be checked at home or in the office.
