Strabismus is a very common clinical eye disease with a prevalence of 1 to 3 percent in children, second only to myopia. However, compared with myopia, many parents know much less about strabismus. Either they do not detect it in time, or they do not know enough about the dangers of strabismus, and as a result, they miss the best treatment time and delay the child’s life.
Like other diseases, there are many types of strabismus
For example, there are children who usually seem to have nothing different, but at some point they will develop strabismus, which is called intermittent strabismus. Its common symptom is photophobia, if the daylight is stronger outdoors, the baby often closes one eye, the patient looks at a distant target outdoors, no near object stimulation in order to make both eyes collect, the bright daylight flashes the retina and interferes with the fusion, the patient changes from exotropia to obvious, but it is not always sure like this. The patient closes one eye to avoid diplopia, and it is possible that the bright light affects the amplitude of fusional assembly in patients with intermittent exotropia, causing one eye to close. This manifestation of intermittent strabismus often occurs in early childhood, initially only when looking at a distance, but as the disease progresses, the number and duration of intermittent exotropia increases, and eventually exotropia can occur when looking at a close distance. Intermittent exotropia is often seen when the baby is tired, sick, drowsy or inattentive; that is, when the baby is tired, drowsy or distracted, the strabismus will appear. And these require parents to be careful enough, otherwise it is difficult to find, of course, there is a kind of strabismus called constant strabismus, no matter what time of the day is strabismus, when parents are easy to find. Below we introduce several methods of identifying strabismus.
1. Corneal reflection method
This method is very simple, mom and dad just need to have a flashlight or camera in their hands. When checking, just turn on the flashlight or camera and let the child look at the light source. According to the light in the child’s eyes to determine the child’s eye position.
In normal eye position, the corneal reflection point of both eyes is in the middle of the pupil.
For internal strabismus, the corneal spot of the left eye is on the outside of the pupil.
For exotropia, the corneal reflection point of the left eye is on the inner side of the pupil.
2. Alternating masking method combined with observation of head position abnormalities
There is a special kind of strabismus that can cause patients to look at things crookedly, and this phenomenon is called strabismus, of which the most common is ophthalmic strabismus. To identify whether it is ophthalmic strabismus is also very simple, as long as the child’s strabismus disappears after covering one eye, ophthalmic strabismus is highly suspected, and the child should be brought to the ophthalmology department in time.
3. Observe whether the child is photophobic
If the child appears photophobic and likes to squint in the sunlight, this should be alerted to the presence of intermittent exotropia. A common symptom of intermittent exotropia is photophobia, as the light stimulates the retina and disrupts the fusion, the patient may be trying to avoid diplopia, or it affects the fused pooling amplitude, causing the patient to actively close the eyes. Many parents are anxious when they find that their child has strabismus, and they hope to have surgery immediately. In fact, it is true that children with strabismus should be detected and diagnosed early and treated early, but the exact treatment, whether surgery or conservative treatment, depends on the examination results. Generally speaking, if a newborn is born with congenital internal strabismus within 6 months of age, the best time for strabismus surgery is before the development of monocular function in both eyes, usually around the age of 3.
If the strabismus is found to be accompanied by hyperopia, the strabismic infant can be treated with corrective glasses first. Surgery.
For infants and children with strabismus who have been treated with glasses for more than 6 months and whose strabismus symptoms have not improved or have only decreased, it is generally recommended that strabismus surgery be performed as soon as possible.
For patients with monocular strabismus, in order to more favorably restore the patient’s binocular monovision function, masking therapy can be used in the early stage, and if the masking therapy does not significantly improve the strabismus symptoms after six months, strabismus surgery can be considered at this time.
Care after surgery is also necessary
It is important for moms and dads to note that for strabismic babies, doctors will take appropriate treatment measures, including surgical correction. However, after the surgery, mothers and fathers also need to take proper care so that their babies can recover better. But clinically we found that many parents do not understand or do not pay attention to care, resulting in the recovery of the child’s post-operative vision is not very good, which is a pity.
1, 48 hours after surgery can be used to ice bags cold compresses to reduce pain and bleeding. Oral or intramuscular injection of antimicrobial agents on the day of surgery, the next day after the outpatient surgery to change the medication, after the change of medication local drops of antimicrobial eye drops and eye ointment. Removal of stitches 7 days after surgery (absorbable sutures do not need to be removed), continue local medication after removal of stitches until 3-4 weeks after surgery.
2. minimize eye rotation and no eye rubbing within 2 weeks after surgery.
3, avoid eye fatigue, moderate rest.
4.Avoid washing face, hair and bathing after surgery to avoid water in the eye and prevent postoperative infection.
5.Avoid spicy food for one month after surgery.
6.After surgery, there will be eye soreness, eye rotation difficulties, foreign body sensation and other discomfort, some may feel different degrees of eye pain or difficulty sleeping, the above phenomenon is a normal reaction after surgery, its severity and duration varies from person to person, generally 2-5 days can be relieved, no need to worry too much.
7.If you experience double vision or other special conditions such as severe eye pain, please inform the doctor immediately and follow the medical advice for training.