What is Squint?
A squint is a condition where the eyes point in different directions. One eye may turn inwards, outwards, upwards or downwards while the other eye looks forward.
Squints are common and affect about one in 20 children. They usually develop before five years of age, but can appear later.
How squint affects vision?
The most obvious sign of a squint is eyes that look in different directions. Squint can also cause double vision, lazy eye in young children and a squint can cause people to develop an abnormal position of the head.
Types of squint and what causes them
Most often, one eye turns inwards (convergent squint) or outwards (divergent squint). Less often, it may turn up or down (vertical squint). There are different terms for how often the squint is present.
Some babies are born with a squint (known as congenital or infantile squint) and some children develop a squint later (known as acquired squint). Acquired squint may be caused by the eye attempting to overcome a vision problem, such as short sightedness or long sightedness and in many cases the cause is unknown.
Treatment for squint
Most squint in children need to be assessed as soon as possible to ensure the vision is protected and to improve the chances of successful treatment.
Treatment includes glasses and occasionally eye exaercises. If your child has a lazy eye, they may need treatment to improve the vision in the affected eye. Many patients may only need periodic monitoring.
In some cases corrective surgery may be undertaken. Squint surgery is a very common eye operation. It usually involves tightening or moving one or more of the outside eye muscles which move the eye to change the eye position.
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