Children’s tilted head alert to “oculocutaneous squint”

       When a child likes to look askew, most parents may first think of neck muscle abnormalities, and are often the first to consult an orthopedic surgeon, ignoring the real cause of the eye – superior oblique muscle palsy and nystagmus.  Superior oblique palsy is a kind of strabismus, due to the unbalanced eye position of both eyes, this child’s eyes drill toward the inner corner of the eye when looking upward, the skewed head can improve or disappear after covering a glance. Nystagmus, on the other hand, is a rhythmic fluttering of the eyeballs that occurs when the eyes cannot fixate on the target.  Oculoconus is a compensatory head position that children naturally adopt for eye abnormalities to compensate for the imbalance in eye position and the inability of the eyes to fixate, in order to preserve binocular vision and improve visual acuity.  If parents take measures to forcefully correct the child’s head position, they will accelerate the loss of binocular vision.  However, long-term head tilting will affect facial development, making both cheeks asymmetrical and affecting the normal development of the spine, as well as making the child feel inferior and unconfident.  Therefore, “oculocerebral” should be treated promptly by pressing the trigeminal lens or surgery.