Squint & Paediatric Ophthalmology
Paediatric eye surgeries are used to treat a variety of eye problems. Squint (also known as strabismus) is a condition that arises because of an incorrect balance of the muscles that move the eye or faulty nerve signals to the eye muscles and focusing faults. If these are out of balance, the eye may converge (turn towards the inside), diverge (turn towards the outside) or sometimes turn up or down, preventing the eyes from working functioning together.
Squint can occur to any one at any point of time irrespective of age or gender. In most cases a baby can be born with a squint or develop one soon after birth. Around five to eight per cent of children are affected by a squint or a squint-related condition, which means one or two in every group of 30 children.
Common eye
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It usually involves tightening or moving one or more of the outside eye muscles which move the eye to change the eye position. These muscles are attached quite close to the front of the eye under the conjunctiva. The eye is never taken out of the socket during surgery. Stitches are used to attach the muscles in their new positions.
Squint surgery is nearly always a day-case procedure, so the patient should be in and out of hospital on the same day. There are two kinds of squint operation - adjustable and non-adjustable. In adjustable surgery, which can be performed in older children and adults, the stitches can be adjusted shortly after the surgery, when the patient is awake.
Risks from surgery are rare, but there can be unpredictability in the exact position of the eyes after surgery and sometimes more than one operation will be needed.
Occasionally, squints corrected during childhood reappear in adulthood. You should visit your GP as soon as possible if you develop a new squint. The muscles are then adjusted to correct the squint. If the muscle is too tight, it is detached from the eye and moved further