The Basics of Strabismus in Babies

Strabimsus in babies is a plausible condition because genetics can be a factor in this type of eye problem. If your family has a known history of this condition, you need to be always ready and alert so that you can have your baby treated immediately, which is very ideal as the eyes are very receptive to treatment when it is still developing. Here are a some facts that you may find useful when dealing with strabismus in babies.

The first thing that you must remember about strabismus in babies is that it is common among infants below three months old to have crossed or wandering eyes.

The reason is that the infant still doesn’t know how to utilize both of his or her eyes. It could also mean that the baby is just tired. Hence you shouldn’t be bothered if you noticed your baby squint his or her eyes. However, if it occurs more regularly especially if the baby is more than 3 months old already, then it is recommended that you consult an eye doctor right away.

Strabismus in babies needs to be treated immediately as it could easily lead to the condition called amblyopia or lazy eye. Individuals with strabismus are not able to utilize both their eyes at the same time. As a result, their brain could altogether ignore the image from one eye and lead to the lazy eye condition. This is not ideal as using only one eye significantly reduces the field of vision and cause difficulties in depth perception.

There area few approaches in treating strabismus in babies. The eye doctor may prescribe corrective lenses to develop the vision. Lazy eye that is caused by strabismus can be remedied with a corrective eye patch. The patch conceals the good eye so that the lazy eye will have no other option but to work harder and correct itself in the process. If these two methods do not succeed, surgery or a series of it may be the only solution for this condition. While the brain is responsible for the lack of coordination of the eyes, the surgery only involves the fixing of the eye muscles therefore there is still a possibility that it may not work.