Strabismus can be treated in adulthood too. Surgery can help

Eye turning, professionally called strabismus, is admittedly most easily treatable in childhood and youth. Thanks to modern medical technologies, however, it can also be treated in adulthood. Our sight is made up not only of the eyes as such, but also of the muscles that surround them. Sometimes, however, their coordination is disrupted and the eye, so to speak, becomes lazy. This manifests itself in the eye suddenly starting to turn inwards, but it can also point outwards, downwards or upwards. The eyes are therefore not aligned in parallel, which is called strabismus, popularly also known as squint.

In strabismus the eye as such is admittedly usually anatomically correctly developed, but because it squints, it does not perform its function as perfectly as it should under normal circumstances. It deviates from the observed object, and vision is often doubled. Interestingly, however, this eye defect does not always affect only one eye fixedly, but can manifest alternately in both eyes.

It troubles children and adults alike

Eye turning appears mainly in young patients, who suffer from headaches and later also eye pain. The problem, which is also typically accompanied by double vision, can, however, persist into adulthood. This is especially the case if the young patients were not operated on or if the result of the operation was not sufficient.

In some cases, however, squinting may appear only in adulthood. The most common cause is various refractive disorders. Whether it is long-sightedness with plus dioptres, or a large dioptric difference between the two eyes, and even cataract. The cause may, however, also be the aforementioned disorders of the extraocular muscles and their weak innervation. Other diagnoses may also be behind the development of squinting, such as thyroid disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, tumour diseases, neurological disorders and, of course, eye injury.

Strabismus is, however, most often associated with a lazy eye (amblyopia), which appears in the first eight years of life, when the patient also has the greatest chance of correcting this eye defect. In adulthood, however, amblyopia cannot be completely cured. It can, however, be significantly improved by eliminating the associated refractive error.

Surgery will help

How much vision can improve can only be decided by an ophthalmologist and a detailed examination at the outpatient clinic. What is certain, however, is that no eye drops or medicines will help you in the fight against squinting. The only solution is eye surgery, with up to 92% of patients experiencing the effect and improvement after the very first operation.

Some patients must also undergo a further operation, about six months after the first procedure. The result, however, is not only a positive cosmetic effect, but above all an improvement in spatial vision. After the procedure, a person feels greater comfort when reading, watching television and also when driving. And last but not least, there is also an overall increase in self-confidence, which also influences other aspects of the patient's everyday life.