The condition
What is strabismus (eye misalignment)?
trabismus (eye misalignment) is a condition in which your eyes don’t line up with one another. In other words, one eye is turned in a direction that’s different from your other eye.
Under normal conditions, the six muscles that control eye movement work together and point both eyes in the same direction. If you have strabismus, these muscles have problems controlling eye movement and can’t keep normal ocular alignment (eye position).
While strabismus is mainly found in childhood, adults can also experience strabismus. Most commonly, strokes cause ocular misalignment in adults. Another cause is physical trauma. But you can be an adult with childhood strabismus that wasn’t treated or was treated and has come back (recurred) or gotten worse.
What are the Types of Strabismus?
Diabetic retinopathy can lead to other serious eye conditions:
- Diabetic macular edema (DME). Over time, about 1 in 15 people with diabetes will develop DME. DME happens when blood vessels in the retina leak fluid into the macula (a part of the retina needed for sharp, central vision). This causes blurry vision.
- Neovascular glaucoma. Diabetic retinopathy can cause abnormal blood vessels to grow out of the retina and block fluid from draining out of the eye. This causes a type of glaucoma (a group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness).
- Retinal detachment. Diabetic retinopathy can cause scars to form in the back of your eye. When the scars pull your retina away from the back of your eye, it’s called tractional retinal detachment
Types of strabismus
The two most common forms of strabismus are:
- Accommodative esotropia. It tends to happen when you don’t treat farsightedness, but it may also be genetic.
- Intermittent exotropia. It occurs when one eye fixates on an object while the other points outward. The eye turn is only present sometimes.
Strabismus affects approximately 3% of children.6 Such untreated condition in 50% of children may experience visual loss due to lazy eye (amblyopia).
A lazy eye involves weak muscles. Therefore, the brain uses the stronger eye more, worsening the weaker one over time.
