Strabismus treatment

Under certain types and stages of strabismus, patient could be fully recovered. The traditional method of treatment is patching or occlusion, when an opaque bandage is applied to the second normal eye to activate the vision of the squinting eye. It should be combined with a course of special exercises. Treatment of strabismus up to this method requires a lot of time. If within 1.5–2 years the abovesaid measures do not help, other treatment has to be used.

 

Today in the treatment of strabismus there are two main methods: surgical procedure and therapy by means of special prism glasses.

 

Prismatic correction as a treatment of strabismus method was applied for a long time, back in the early 50s. For the converging strabismus were used prisms based to the temple, for the with diverging strabismus were used based to the nose (for constant wear). Prisms were prescribed to transfer the image of the squinting eye to the central fossa of the retina (macula) to stimulate the integration of images of both eyes. However, this type of strabismus treatment is not widespread, since it is almost impossible to use ophthalmic prisms, usually glass, with a force of more than 8-10 prism diopters, because of the large weight and dimensions of such prisms.

The Fresnel elastic microprisms that appeared in the 70s are mostlu overcome mentioned shortcomings. According to the ophthalmologists who applied them, positive results have been obtained, especially in cases of postoperative residual angles with vertical deviations and in the last stages of the treatment of friendly strabismus, when binocular functions are being formed. The main manufacturer of such microprisms is the company "3M" (USA).

The relief side of the disc is protected from the external environment by a protective plate, which is hermetically sealed by means of an ultrasonic welding with a microprism element. When such microprisms are using to diagnose of strabismus, the protective plate is a polycarbonate (PC) disc with a thickness of 0.6 mm. The design of this microprismatic element (the diagnostic compensator of strabismus) is completely original and is protected by patents of Ukraine.

 

Separate prism compensators are combined into special diagnostic sets KK-42, that are widely used today in Ukraine and other countries for determine the angle of strabismus or in the line of compensators DNSK-1, that are especially convenient for the diagnosis of little children.

 

 

In the case applying IIR microprisms in medical glasses, the protective plate is the refractive lens of the glasses itself. Microprismatic relief will never be in contact with the environment, thereby relief is not contaminated and the optical properties of such combined prism-sphero-cylindrical lenses are stable for even very long-term use. Today IIR microprisms are widely used for the diagnosis and treatment of children's strabismus in Ukraine, China, Uzbekistan.

The application of therapeutic treatment with microprisms should be started at the early age when binocular vision of child is formed, in this case, the effect will get maximal value.

If the therapeutic treatment of strabismus does not produce results, the children are given surgical treatment. Surgeries for strabismus are also performed by adults, that for one reason or other, have not received treatment in childhood or received it as a result of injury. The type of operation is determined by the operating surgeon directly on the operating table, since such an operation must take into account the particular location of the six motor muscles in a particular patient. Sometimes both eyes are operated at once, in some types of strabismus only one eye is operated. An operative intervention is intended to strengthen or weaken one of the muscles that move the eyeball.

Surgery for strabismus is performed on an outpatient basis. The position of the eye should be be correct at the very next day after surgery,. In the postoperative period (no more than 2 weeks) eye drops should be instilled and excessive physical exertion should be avoided. Surgery for strabismus allows you to get rid of its clinical presentations. But it will not necessary return perfect eyesight. Every eye in a person with normal vision receives slightly different images that the brain combines into one. In order to get one integreted picture only the gurgery is not enough. Therefore, to restore the binocular vision, in that the two images obtained by the eyes, the brain combines into one, constant exercises are still necessary, including exercises with prisms.

Cosmetic effect is also a very important result of surgical procedure. Most people with squint get permanent psychological trauma due to their unusual appearance. The operation allows the person to return the usual appearance and this solves many problems, including social ones.

Thus, Fresnel microprisms are widely used in strabismus today, both for therapeutic treatment and together with surgical procedure. Before surgery, prisms are used to generate and strengthen a bifoveal fusion, and after operations, microprisms are used to generate a stable fusion. There prisms are the most effective and painless way to restore solid vision with the therapeutic treatment of strabismus.