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Esotropia is a form of strabismus in which one or both eyes turns inward. The condition can be constantly present, or occur intermittently, and can give the affected individual a "cross-eyed" appearance. It is the opposite of exotropia and usually involves more severe axis deviation than esophoria. Esotropia is sometimes erroneously called "lazy eye", which describes the condition of amblyopia; a reduction in vision of one or both eyes that is not the result of any pathology of the eye and cannot be resolved by the use of corrective lenses. Amblyopia can, however, arise as a result of esotropia occurring in childhood: In order to relieve symptoms of diplopia or double vision, the child's brain will ignore or "suppress" the image from the esotropic eye, which when allowed to continue untreated will lead to the development of amblyopia. Treatment options for esotropia include glasses to correct refractive errors, the use of prisms and/or orthoptic exercises and/or eye muscle surgery. The term is from Greek eso meaning "inward" and trope meaning "a turning".
Optometry is a specialized health care profession that involves examining the eyes and related structures for defects or abnormalities. Optometrists are health care professionals who typically provide comprehensive primary eye care.
An eyepatch is a small patch that is worn in front of one eye. It may be a cloth patch attached around the head by an elastic band or by a string, an adhesive bandage, or a plastic device which is clipped to a pair of glasses. It is often worn by people to cover a lost or injured eye, but it also has a therapeutic use in children for the treatment of amblyopia. Eyepatches used to block light while sleeping are referred to as a sleep mask.
Orthoptics is a profession allied to the eye care profession. Orthoptists are the experts in diagnosing and treating defects in eye movements and problems with how the eyes work together, called binocular vision. These can be caused by issues with the muscles around the eyes or defects in the nerves enabling the brain to communicate with the eyes. Orthoptists are responsible for the diagnosis and non-surgical management of strabismus (cross-eyed), amblyopia and eye movement disorders. The word orthoptics comes from the Greek words ὀρθός orthos, "straight" and ὀπτικός optikοs, "relating to sight" and much of the practice of orthoptists concerns disorders of binocular vision and defects of eye movement. Orthoptists are trained professionals who specialize in orthoptic treatment, such as eye patches, eye exercises, prisms or glasses. They commonly work with paediatric patients and also adult patients with neurological conditions such as stroke, brain tumours or multiple sclerosis. With specific training, in some countries orthoptists may be involved in monitoring of some forms of eye disease, such as glaucoma, cataract screening and diabetic retinopathy.
Strabismus is a vision disorder in which the eyes do not properly align with each other when looking at an object. The eye that is focused on an object can alternate. The condition may be present occasionally or constantly. If present during a large part of childhood, it may result in amblyopia, or lazy eyes, and loss of depth perception. If onset is during adulthood, it is more likely to result in double vision.
Amblyopia, also called lazy eye, is a disorder of sight in which the brain fails to fully process input from one eye and over time favors the other eye. It results in decreased vision in an eye that typically appears normal in other aspects. Amblyopia is the most common cause of decreased vision in a single eye among children and younger adults.
Diplopia is the simultaneous perception of two images of a single object that may be displaced horizontally or vertically in relation to each other. Also called double vision, it is a loss of visual focus under regular conditions, and is often voluntary. However, when occurring involuntarily, it results in impaired function of the extraocular muscles, where both eyes are still functional, but they cannot turn to target the desired object. Problems with these muscles may be due to mechanical problems, disorders of the neuromuscular junction, disorders of the cranial nerves that innervate the muscles, and occasionally disorders involving the supranuclear oculomotor pathways or ingestion of toxins.
Pediatric ophthalmology is a sub-speciality of ophthalmology concerned with eye diseases, visual development, and vision care in children.
Vision therapy (VT), or behavioral optometry, is an umbrella term for alternative medicine treatments using eye exercises, based around the pseudoscientific claim that vision problems are the true underlying cause of learning disabilities, particularly in children. Vision therapy has not been shown to be effective using scientific studies, except for helping with convergence insufficiency. Most claims—for example that the therapy can address neurological, educational, and spatial difficulties—lack supporting evidence. Neither the American Academy of Pediatrics nor the American Academy of Ophthalmology support the use of vision therapy.
Exotropia is a form of strabismus where the eyes are deviated outward. It is the opposite of esotropia and usually involves more severe axis deviation than exophoria. People with exotropia often experience crossed diplopia. Intermittent exotropia is a fairly common condition. "Sensory exotropia" occurs in the presence of poor vision in one eye. Infantile exotropia is seen during the first year of life, and is less common than "essential exotropia" which usually becomes apparent several years later.
Convergence insufficiency is a sensory and neuromuscular anomaly of the binocular vision system, characterized by a reduced ability of the eyes to turn towards each other, or sustain convergence.
An eye care professional (ECP) is an individual who provides a service related to the eyes or vision. It is any healthcare worker involved in eye care, from one with a small amount of post-secondary training to practitioners with a doctoral level of education.
Retinal correspondence is the inherent relationship between paired retinal visual cells in the two eyes. Images from one object stimulate both cells, which transmit the information to the brain, permitting a single visual impression localized in the same direction in space.
Hypertropia is a condition of misalignment of the eyes (strabismus), whereby the visual axis of one eye is higher than the fellow fixating eye. Hypotropia is the similar condition, focus being on the eye with the visual axis lower than the fellow fixating eye. Dissociated vertical deviation is a special type of hypertropia leading to slow upward drift of one or rarely both eyes, usually when the patient is inattentive.
John Ashburnham Pratt-Johnson, FRCS(C.), FRCS(Edin.), was a Canadian ophthalmologist and Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was a famous pediatric ophthalmologist and trained many fellows at the university. He also involved himself in international cooperation to improve the status of medical care in the area of blindness prevention and access to surgical expertise for under-served areas in poor countries. As part of Orbis and the board of directors of Seva Canada Society he has helped organise funds, build facilities and train health care workers and ophthalmologists, particularly from Nepal, where prevalence of blindness is quite high.
The International Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (IJCAHPO) is an American nonprofit professional association for Allied Ophthalmic Personnel (AOP).
A haploscope is an optical device for presenting one image to one eye and another image to the other eye. The word derives from two Greek roots: haploieides, single and skopeo, to view. The word is often used interchangeably with stereoscope, but it is more general than that. A stereoscope is a type of haploscope, but not vice versa. The word has more currency in the medical field than elsewhere, where it refers to instruments designed to test binocular vision. These instruments include Worth's amblyoscope and the synoptophore.
Infantile esotropia is an ocular condition of early onset in which one or either eye turns inward. It is a specific sub-type of esotropia and has been a subject of much debate amongst ophthalmologists with regard to its naming, diagnostic features, and treatment.
Stereopsis recovery, also recovery from stereoblindness, is the phenomenon of a stereoblind person gaining partial or full ability of stereo vision (stereopsis).
The management of strabismus may include the use of drugs or surgery to correct the strabismus. Agents used include paralytic agents such as botox used on extraocular muscles, topical autonomic nervous system agents to alter the refractive index in the eyes, and agents that act in the central nervous system to correct amblyopia.
References
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-09-04. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ Koklanis K, Georgievski Z. Continuing professional education programs for orthoptists. Insight 2009; Feb/March: 43. [PDF]
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-07-31. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ Georgievski Z, Koklanis K, Leone J. Orthoptists' management of amblyopia - a case based survey. Strabismus, 2007, 15(3): 197-203. [Pubmed Link]
- ↑ "Optometrists and Orthoptists - Job Outlook". joboutlook.gov.au. Archived from the original on 2008-12-23.
- ↑ Koklanis K, Georgievski Z. Recurrence of intermittent exotropia: Factors associated with surgical outcomes. Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology 2008; 36 (Suppl 2): A765. [Link]
- ↑ Devereux C, Georgievski Z, Santamaria L. An online discussion forum to support orthoptic clinical education. In: Verlohr D, Georgievski, Z, Rydberg, A (Eds.) Global Perspectives Converge Downunder. Transactions of the Xth International Orthoptic Congress, Melbourne, Australia, 14–17 November 2004; 348-351.
- ↑ "Australian Orthoptic Board".