I believe the type of crossed
eyes my brother had is called congenital Esotropia. Congenital means from birth. Most infants are born with eyes that aren't
aligned at birth. Only 23% of infants
are born with straight eyes. Within
three months the eyes gradually come into more consistent alignment.
True congenital esotropia is
an inward turn of a large amount of the eye, and is present in very few
children, but the infant will not outgrow it.
True infantile esotropia usually appears between the ages of 2 and 4
months.
The baby with infantile estropia
usually cross fixates, which means that he or she uses either eye to look in
the opposite direction. The right eye is
used to look toward the left side , and the left eye is used to look toward the
right side.
Some children who develop this
type of crossed eyes, also have atypical gross motor development patterns. They typically skip the crawling stage with
bilateral movements, and go right from crawling to standing. In most circumstances, surgery will be
required.
There are other types of
Estropia, which will not require surgery if therapy will work. Esotropia with amblyopia (lazy eye) is one of
these. Accommodative esoptropia is one
that occurs around 2 years of age. This
type is caused when looking at things up close and usually can be taken care of
with glasses.
This disease can be caused by
problems with the eye muscles, the nerves that transmit information to the
muscles, or the control center in the brain that directs eye movements. It can also develop due to other general
health conditions or eye injuries.
There can be a family history
of crossed eyes. Refractive error -
people who have a significant amount of uncorrected farsightedness (hyperopia)
may develop a problem because of the additional amount of eye focusing required
to keep objects clear. Also, medical
conditions such as Down syndrome and cerebral palsy, or someone who has
suffered a stroke or head injury are at a higher risk of developing strabismus.
More information can be found
on these subjects on Google at the American Optometric Association and the
article by Dr. Jeffery Cooper, Rachel Cooper and Dr. Leonard Press, FCOVD, FAAO
at the Optometrists Network.
My brother was fortunate
because he had the surgery and is able to see.
Have a happy Sunday and see
you next week.
http://www.eirelander-publishing.com
5 comments:
Who knew? What an interesting post about a topic we're aware of but know nothing about, except for info like this. and I'm so glad your brother can see. I wonder if that situation carries the same risks in todays health care?
Interesting post, Sandy. There are so many congenital conditions we don't know about until faced with personally.
Louise, yes it does carry the same risk but it's very rare.
Linda, this happened with my brother before they knew what to call it other than being cross-eyed. He faced a lot of ridicule as a child and older.
Didn't know about this, Sandy. Does it run in your family?
Glad your brother's surgery went okay!
Marianne, I'm not sure if it runs in the family or not. My oldest niece had what is called lazy eye, but they worked with her to correct the problem. I've had a bad stigmatism since infancy.
Thanks for stopping by.
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