It is very important that a squint is treated as soon as possible after being detected. If it is not treated, vision problems, such as those caused by a lazy eye (amblyopia), are likely to get worse or could become permanent.
Treatment is most effective in very young children.
Several types of treatment are available for squints, including:
These are described below
Glasses are one of the most common treatments for squints. They can be used to correct the vision problems (refractive errors) that may be causing the squint, such as:
Children's glasses will have plastic rather than glass lenses to reduce the risk of possible injury. Your child will usually need to wear their glasses all the time.
If your child has a lazy eye, they may need to wear a patch over their ‘good’ eye to encourage the eye with the squint to work harder. This will not correct the squint, but it can improve the vision in the lazy eye.
The patch may need to be worn for a few hours a day for several weeks. Eye patches are most effective if they are worn before a child is seven or eight years of age.
Botulinum toxin is a poison that in very small doses can be used to treat a range of different health conditions. It can be injected into one of the muscles that move the eye. The injection temporarily weakens the injected muscle, allowing the eyes to realign. The effects of botulinum toxin usually last around three months. After this time, the eyes may stay in their realigned position or they may go back out of alignment and require further treatment.
Botulinum toxin may be a treatment option for some types of squint, such as those that are caused by a problem with the nerves around the eye, or in babies under one year of age.
Children will usually be given medication to help them relax (a sedative) before having the botulinum toxin injection.
After the injection, your child may experience some temporary side effects such as:
In some cases, it may be possible to treat a squint using special eye exercises that help the eyes work together.
If none of the above treatments work, surgery may be a possible treatment option. Surgery can be used to:
Surgery to correct a squint involves moving the muscles attached to the outside of the eye to a new position. It may be necessary to operate on both eyes to balance them effectively, even if the squint is only in one eye.
As corrective squint surgery usually takes less than an hour to perform, the procedure is often carried out as a day case, so your child will be able to go home the same day. The operation is usually carried out under general anaesthetic, which means that your child will be asleep throughout the procedure.
You may be able to accompany your child to the operating theatre and stay with them until they have been given the anaesthetic. A nurse will be with your child throughout the procedure.
During the operation, your child’s eye will be kept open using an instrument called a lid speculum. The ophthalmologist (eye care specialist) will detach one part of the muscle that is connected to your child’s eye and will either move it backwards to weaken the pulling effect or shorten it to increase the pulling effect. Once the correction has been made, the muscles will be sewn back into place using dissolvable stitches.
There is very little chance that your child's eyesight will be damaged during the operation because the part of the eye responsible for focusing is not touched.
For a short time after the operation, your child will need to use eye drops. The nurse will show you how to use them before you leave the hospital.
The eye drops will help your child’s eye to heal and prevent infection. They will need to be used three or four times a day, for up to four weeks after the operation.
Surgery to correct a squint does not usually hurt, although your child’s eye may feel slightly uncomfortable afterwards. Following surgery, the white part of your child’s eye will be red. This is quite normal and it should pass after a few days.
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