What is Squint/Strabismus ?

A squint, also called “strabismus” is a condition wherein both the eyes are unable to align properly. One eye turns inside, upside, downwards, or outwards, while the other one focuses on one point. It can happen every time or at regular intervals as well. This takes place because the muscles that control the movement of the eye and the eyelid (called the extraocular muscles) are not working together.


As a result, both eyes fail to focus at the same spot at the same time.

Squint

Symptoms of Squint

Eye fatigue. (2)
Eye Fatigue
Blurred Vision
Double vision
Fluctuating vision
Overlapped or blurred images
A pulling sensation around the eyes.
A pulling sensation around the eyes
Reading difficulty.
Reading difficulty
Loss of depth perception.
Loss of depth perception

Causes of Squint

There are no concrete causes for squint. Yet, a minor portion of the squint cases can be attributed to the following causes:

Hereditary (2)
Hereditary
Stroke
Stroke
Uncorrected refractive errors.
Refractive errors
Head injuries
Head injuries
Minimize Glare
Poor vision in one eye
Neurological (nervous system) problems.
Neurological problems
cerebral palsy
Cerebral Plasy
Graves’ disease
Graves’ disease
Hydrocephalus
Hydrocephalus
Infections.
Infections.
Brain tumors.
Brain Tumors
longsight
Long Sightedness

Types of Squint

Squint can be categorized based on the direction in which the eye moves:

Esotropia:

When the eye turns inwards, or it turns towards the nose.

Exotropia:

When the eye turns outwards or it turns away from nose.

Hypertropia:

When the eye turns upwards. One eye is higher than other.

Hypotropia:

When the eye turns down. One eye is lower than other.

Squint Treatment Options

Eyeglasses or contact lenses

These are used by people with uncorrected refractive errors. With remedial lenses, the eyes will not have to put that much effort into focusing and can stay straight.

Prism lenses

These are the special lenses that help the light to bend and enter the eye and further help in reducing the amount of turning the eye one must do to look at objects.

Orthoptics ( Squint eye exercises)

It may work on some types of strabismus, especially convergence insufficiency (a form of Exotropia)

Medications

Eye drops or ointments. Also, injections of botulinum toxin type A (such as Botox) can weaken an overactive eye muscle. These treatments in Delhi may be used with, or as a substitute for surgery, depending on the patient’s situation

Patching

To treat amblyopia (lazy eye), when the patient is suffering from both amblyopia and strabismus at the same time. The improvement of vision also can control the misalignment of the eye.

Eye muscle surgery

Surgery changes the length or size of eye muscles so that the eyes are aligned properly. This is performed under general anesthesia with stitches that get dissolved with time. Sometimes adults are provided with adjustable strabismus surgery, where the eye muscle positions are adjusted after surgery in Delhi.

Squint Treatment Exercises

Pencil Push-Ups

Pencil push-ups are simple workouts for ocular progress that get both eyes directed at the same fixed point. Hold a pencil out at arm’s length, pointing away from you. Focus your sight on the eraser or a letter/numeral on the side. Slowly bring the pencil closer toward the bridge of the nose. Keep it in focus for as long as you can, but you need to stop once your vision gets blurry.

Brock String

You need to have a 5 feet long string  with three different coloured beads. Secure one end of the string to a fixed point such as a handrail or at the back of a chair. Space the beads out at equal distances. Keep holding the other end of the string firmly to your nose. You should be noticing a consistent pattern as you shift your focus from bead to bead. The bead you are looking at will appear by itself at the convergence of two identical strings with doubles of the other beads, forming an X. Your eyes are not properly focused on the bead if you see the strings crossing in front of the bead or in the back of the bead. Make sure that you are getting the X at all beads (except the one at the far end, which will just have the two strings coming out toward you in a V).

Barrel Cards

This is a handy exercise for Exotropia. Draw three red barrels of increasing length on one side of a card. Repeat the same thing in green on the other side.

Hold the card lengthwise and vertically against your nose in such a way that the largest barrel is farthest away. Stare at the far away barrel until it becomes one image with both colours and the other two barrel images have doubled. Maintain your gaze for about five seconds. Then do the same with the middle and smallest barrel images.

Squint Surgery Cost

Squint surgery cost depends primarily on the number of muscles that need to be operated. For example, if your squint is very strong, then more than one muscle might need to be adjusted, and this increases the surgery cost. Below are the expected cost of squint surgery / treatment at  top eye hospitals in Delhi:

TreatmentCost (₹)
Squint Check Up500- 1000
Squint Orthoptic Exercises1000-1500
Squint Surgery for 1 Muscles20000-25000
Squint Surgery for 2 Muscles25000-30000
Squint Surgery for 3 Muscles30000-35000

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FAQ's

A squint, or strabismus, is a condition in which the eyes do not align properly. One eye turns inwards, upwards, downwards, or outwards, while the other one may turn in another random direction. 

During the squint surgery, your surgeon does not take out the sockets, instead, he stitches them to attach the muscles in the new position. The option of corrective surgery is preferred to improve the appearance of the eyes.

The pain in these cases varies from case to case. However, the pain is quite moderate for which your doctors provide medicine with. The condition usually improves in a few hours. But some may take even days which again is normal.

Yes, glasses do come for restoring the alignment but it may take months. Also, if it is not working, you might be asked to try eyedrops or eye patch simultaneously.

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