This occurs when the eyes are misaligned all or part of the time. This is probably the most obvious vision disorder because it can easily be seen by all people. You can have an eye that turns in towards the nose, which is known as Esotropia, or you can have an eye that turns out towards the ear, which is known as Exotropia. An eye turn can be constant or intermittent and in some cases alternate between the two eyes. We believe strabismus to be the brains answer to double vision. The brain creates this adaptation to alleviate the stress and visual confusion caused the two overlapping images. By turning the eye, the brain is able to separate the images enough to ignore one of them. In visual therapy we teach the brain to pay attention to both images and then to coordinate the eyes enough that the two images become one. The goal is to have the eyes look "cosmetically" straight AND maintain full visual function of the eye. |