Strabismic disorders in the adult may also be associated with certain diseases and drugs affecting the nervous system. In the child, however, the chief causes are congenital. Treatment of squint can be generalized as follows. The first step must always be to establish why the eyes are not working together, and this necessitates a full ophthalmic examination. Special (orthoptic) tests to measure the degree of weakness in the affected eye and to clarify whether the defect is sensory or motor, using electronic equipment, may be required, especially if the patient is a child. Read the rest of this entry »
Squint, or strabismus, is a general term used to describe any one of several conditions in which the two eyes are not properly co-ordinated. One eye focuses on an object, but the other eye fails to align itself to the same fixation. Most commonly the errant eye is aligned inwards (cross-eye or esotropia) or outwards (wall-eye or exotropia); less commonly it looks upwards (hypertropia) or downwards (hypotropia). Other words to describe these conditions are ‘cast’ and ‘turn’. The phrase ‘evil eye‘ has also doubtless been used in association with squint. Where a squint remains uncorrected the person who has it is often forced to adopt an unusual, even grotesque, head- posture, adding to a general impression of unsightliness. But because the squint sufferer has the potential for normal stereoscopic vision the treatment of squint is an important ophthalmic activity. Read the rest of this entry »
Why did the dinosaurs become extinct? A recently advanced theory suggests, not altogether implausibly, that they died out because of cataract. Sudden changes in the earth’s atmosphere meant that rays harmful to dinosaurian eyes reached down to the forests and plains from the sun. It happened so quickly that evolution had no time to mount a defence.
Cataract, among such mammals as humans, is a condition where the inner crystalline lens of the eye has lost its transparency, and therefore its optical value. Opacities of the inner lens are often present from birth, in the form of small dots, and in no way seriously affect the individual’s vision. Indeed, many people have such dots but are unaware of their presence. Read the rest of this entry »
Where cataract is due to abnormal body metabolism, then treatment of the metabolic disorder can sometimes prevent development of cataract, or even reverse cataract where cataract has begun. Diabetes mellitus is a good example of this. Otherwise metabolic cataract can be treated by conventional methods. It should be said at once that in most countries of the world eye-drops and medicines of ill-founded clinical value, and rarely backed by any sound medical trials, are still available. Read the rest of this entry »
