Misaligned Eye

What is a misaligned eye?

A misaligned eye occurs when your eyes don’t line up correctly. Six muscles control eye movement and usually work in tandem to ensure both eyes look in the same direction. When these muscles don’t function as they should, one or both eyes point in different directions.

In addition to affecting your appearance, eye misalignment can cause double vision, headaches, and eye strain. You or your child might be continually turning or tilting your head and closing or covering one eye, and reading might be difficult. 

The medical name for misaligned eyes is strabismus. The problem usually develops in childhood, but adults who suffer a stroke or head injury could also have a misaligned eye. 

What are the different types of misaligned eyes?

Eye misalignment can happen in various ways, including inward pointing (esotropia), outward pointing (exotropia), upward pointing (hypertropia), and downward pointing (hypotropia). The most common eye misalignments are:

Accommodative esotropia

This type of eye misalignment affects farsighted children who don’t get corrective eyeglasses. The effort of trying to focus on distant objects causes the eyes to turn inward. 

Intermittent exotropia

With this condition, one eye concentrates on what you want to look at, and the other drifts outward. 

Infantile esotropia

This misalignment, where both eyes turn inward, affects babies before they reach six months. The children affected aren’t farsighted, and corrective glasses don’t have any effect.

What treatments are available for misaligned eyes?

Treatments Dr. Dao might recommend for misaligned eyes include:

Glasses or contact lenses

If your eye misalignment relates to a refractive error like farsightedness, corrective lenses help by reducing the strain on your eyes.

Prism lenses

Prism lenses bend light as it enters your eye.

Eye exercises

Eye exercises (orthoptics) can help the underperforming eye muscles responsible for the misalignment.

Medications

Eye drops, ointments, and medical Botox® injections can help by weakening overactive eye muscles. 

Patching

Your child might benefit from patching if they have amblyopia (a lazy eye) in addition to eye misalignment. Wearing an eye patch on the good eye helps the abnormal one work properly again.

Surgery

Dr. Dao might suggest surgery if other treatments can’t help with misaligned eyes. During surgery, she alters the eye muscles’ position and/or length so the eyes align properly again.

Call Pediatric Ophthalmology Partners of Texas today for expert help with misaligned eyes. You can also schedule a consultation online.