Strabismus

Strabismus — also known as hypertropia and crossed eyes — is misalignment of the eyes, causing one eye to deviate inward (esotropia) toward the nose, or outward (exotropia), while the other eye remains focused. Misalignment can occur once in a while in newborns, especially if they are tired, but they should outgrow it by three months of age. In children, uncorrected strabismus can lead to amblyopia, a condition in which the brain starts to ignore signals sent by the weaker, misaligned eye that leads to vision problems.

In some children, strabismus is one of several manifestations of other medical conditions, including traumatic brain injury, retinopathy of prematurity, retinoblastoma, cerebral palsy and others.

Symptoms

• Crossed eyes

• Uncoordinated eye movements

• Double vision

• Vision in only one eye, with loss of depth perception