Dr. Komarovsky on strabismus in children

Squint in children is a topic for a very serious conversation, but only after the child is six months old. Prior to this, some "raskosos" in infants may be quite normal, but because parents do not need to worry about wasting.

He tells mothers and fathers about how children's strabismus is and how to treat it.

Dr. Komarovsky encourages parents to remain calm and prudent in assessing children's strabismus. If we are talking about a baby that was recently born, then the reasons may be quite physiological: the muscles that hold the eyeball and allow you to focus on a certain point, the newborns are very weak, because inside the mother's womb this function is not required for the baby’s eyes. These muscles will be strengthened by approximately 3-4 months, and before that the crumb can “mow” as he pleases - to the right, left, in different directions.

There is such a thing as a pseudo-eye, which also applies to babies. The skull of newborns has structural features, its two halves converge at a slight angle, and therefore, visually, the examining baby may have the impression that the baby has a squint.

Persistent strabismus in a child can be a consequence of the previous pathology - often caused by hypoxic changes in the period of gestation of the baby and in the process of its birth, if oxygen starvation caused damage to the brain's visual centers, acute infectious diseases of the mother during pregnancy, severely transferred infections by the baby, cerebral palsy , Down syndrome.

Komarovsky also emphasizes that there is a hereditary reason, and the baby could inherit an unusual look from parents.

This pathology is fairly simple in self-diagnosis, and parents can easily notice characteristic signs and symptoms of visual impairment:

• the child, despite the age of six months, cannot concentrate his gaze at one point (for checking it is possible to use a small bright object that is interesting to the child);
• eye movement while tracking a moving object is not synchronous;
• if the toddler is shone in the eyes with a flashlight, then one eye closes or, in general, “floats away” to the side;
• in order to look at the toy he is interested in, the child has to turn the head to the object;
• the baby does not appreciate the distance to objects, often stumbles or cannot reach and touch, as it reaches for an object that is too far away.

Real strabismus in children is not always congenital, and during the first three years of life, as certain binocular vision is formed and formed, certain deviations may occur. The squint may be accompanied by hyperopia or myopia, diseases of the central nervous system, brain tumors. Strabismus can develop in a child after injuries, a blow to the head, and a head injury.

If parents know that there were people with squint or other problems with organs of sight in the family, it is important to show the child to the ophthalmologist regularly. Therefore, the Ministry of Health of Russia has established a certain sequence of medical examinations by an eye doctor: at 1, 3, 6 months, and then per year, 2 years, 3 years, and so on, before the onset of school age.

There are many types of children's strabismus, and therefore the treatment of one species will differ from the treatment of another, and only a doctor of the appropriate profile can understand this.

Before you ask about the appropriateness of a treatment, the accuracy of appointments, the child must undergo a full examination by an ophthalmologist, according to Yevgeny Komarovsky. Everything will depend on how exactly the baby’s strabismus has developed, whether it is congenital or acquired.

If we are talking about a friendly strabismus, in which the refraction is disturbed, and the rays of light are not refracted in the same way, then they are talking about hereditary pathology. It usually becomes apparent in childhood. That is why a lot depends on timely correction.

Treatment may be based on wearing glasses, lenses, occlusion. If there are organic lesions, the child will be assigned to surgical treatment. In the paralytic form of the disease, one or more eye muscles are affected. This is usually an acquired form of the disease, in which it is possible to restore the function of the musculature of the eye with the help of physiotherapy and subsequent surgical intervention.

A congenital disorder usually requires treatment for 2-4 years. Yevgeny Komarovsky calls the method of wearing occlusive dressings a very effective method. According to the decision of the ophthalmologist, corrective exercises can be applied with projection onto the retina of images by means of lenses or special glasses.

Wearing occlusive dressings may be inconvenient - the child may be shy, clamped, refuse to attend the kindergarten due to the ridicule of his peers in his address. Therefore, Yevgeny Komarovsky sees an excellent way out: to send a child to a specialized kindergarten, which is visited by children with vision problems. There will be no one to be shy, and no one will laugh at the boy or girl with glasses or occlusive eye patch.

Treatment of strabismus is an occupation that will require a lot of strength and patience from parents, as well as discipline. A child may be assigned classes on special ophthalmologic simulators to normalize the work of the eye muscles, he may have to attend remedial classes on amblyopanorum (therapeutic effect is achieved due to moving light fields).

Children from 3 years old can be recommended special computer games, which are to be played under the supervision of a physician, in some cases they use volumetric vision glasses for practicing.

Alternating strabismus (converging) and diverging strabismus are treated according to the individual angle of deviation from the norm.