What Are the Goals of Treatment

The goals of treatment are to preserve vision, straighten the eyes, and restore binocular vision. Treatment of strabismus depends upon the exact cause of the misaligned eyes. It can be directed towards unbalanced muscles, cataract removal or other conditions that are causing the eyes to turn. After a complete eye examination, including a detailed study of the inner parts of the eye, an ophthalmologist can recommend appropriate optical, medical or surgical therapy. Covering or patching the good eye to force use of the amblyopic eye may be necessary to ensure equal vision.

Constant strabismus must be dealt with immediately if one wants to re-establish proper use of the eyes. Treatment for this condition needs to be early and aggressive. If the eye turn is constant and simple things like patching, glasses (bifocal, prismatic, etc) do not eliminate the eye turn, surgery needs to be considered.

With intermittent strabismus, the eye does not turn in all the time, so the brain is probably receiving appropriate stimulation for the development of binocular vision. Children with intermittent eye turns should be handled with judicious patching, special glasses, and/or orthoptics (special eye excercises designed to encourage binocular vision). Surgery, if considered at all, should be a last resort.

The two most common types of strabismus are esotropia, where an eye turns in and exotropia, where an eye turns out.