What should I do if my child squints when watching TV? Parents should pay attention

Some children have slanted eyes and tilted heads when watching TV. Many parents do not think this situation is serious. Here we clearly remind everyone that if your child has this situation, you must see a doctor in time and never ignore it.

1. Seek medical treatment promptly

When a child tilts his head and squints his eyes while watching TV, the most likely scenario is that he suffers from strabismus. In this case, the first thing that comes to mind is that he must seek medical attention in time. The idea that it can heal on its own is wrong. According to statistics, the current prevalence of strabismus has exceeded 1%. Strabismus develops at a young age, and the two eyes look at things in an uncoordinated manner. The binocular single vision function fails to develop, and good stereoscopic vision cannot be produced, which can also affect intellectual development. When children with strabismus grow up, they cannot engage in jobs that require fine eyesight, such as mechanical processing, instrument manufacturing, art, and architecture, and they cannot even drive a vehicle. Since appearance is affected, finding a partner will also be affected. In addition, strabismus has a great impact on children's personality. Many children with strabismus are often given nicknames by their classmates, which casts a shadow on their psychological development and affects their normal growth. Many children with strabismus often miss the best treatment period because they do not seek medical treatment in time, which affects the normal development of vision. For children with congenital strabismus, it is generally recommended to undergo surgery within 1 and a half years of age. It is difficult to achieve effective results after the age of 12. Corrective surgery can only be performed to improve the appearance, but the visual function is already beyond repair. After a child opens his eyes after birth, you should observe whether his eyeballs are symmetrical. When the child is five or six months old, you should pay attention to whether the two eyeballs move differently when the child is held up, whether the child has a tilted head, and whether the two eyeballs are symmetrical. In addition, you should promptly correct the child's bad habits such as lying down to read, watch TV, or do homework while prone.

2. Correction with glasses

When children tilt their heads and squint their eyes while watching TV, they usually have strabismus. There are many types of strabismus, including asymptomatic latent strabismus, esotropia, and exotropia. For asymptomatic latent strabismus, no treatment is required because children have strong fusion and convergence abilities. However, some children with latent strabismus experience symptoms of visual fatigue such as eye swelling, orbital pain, and headache after close work, and appropriate treatment can be given. For esotropia, the pupil needs to be dilated and the eyes need to be refraction tested. Those with hyperopia should be fitted with appropriate glasses. For exotropia, convergence training can be performed to strengthen the adductor muscles of both eyes to overcome the exotropia. If the effect is not good, prism glasses can be worn. For exotropia greater than 10° when looking at near objects, surgical treatment can be considered. Intermittent esotropia is mostly hyperopia. Once it is discovered, the pupil should be dilated and refraction should be performed to correct it with adequate hyperopia glasses. After wearing the glasses, the intermittent esotropia can usually be completely corrected.

3. Surgery is required in severe cases

The reason why children tilt their heads and squint their eyes when watching TV is mostly strabismus. If the strabismus is severe and affects their normal life, surgical treatment is probably the most needed. The younger the age of strabismus treatment, the better the treatment effect. Strabismus surgery is not only to correct eye position and improve appearance, but more importantly to establish binocular vision function. The best time for surgery is before 6-7 years old. Whether the eye position can remain stable in the long term and whether stereoscopic vision can be established still requires regular follow-up. Strabismus surgery is a type of eye muscle surgery. The surgical site is not on the eyeball and it has little effect on vision and other functions. Patients and their parents do not need to worry too much. Monocular constant esotropia can be treated with patch therapy first to induce alternating strabismus, and then surgery can be performed. Exotropia should be corrected surgically as early as possible, before it becomes overt exotropia and before binocular single vision is completely lost. It is best to have the surgery between the ages of 4 and 6. Postoperative care for strabismus surgery is not difficult. Children should pay more attention to rest, close their eyes and relax, and eat less or no spicy food. Conjunctival edema should be actively prevented and treated after surgery. Conjunctival exudation and edema are the main postoperative reactions of hydroxyapatite orbital implantation. The main reason is the stimulation of the conjunctiva during surgery, which causes bleeding due to poor postoperative bandaging, affecting blood circulation and slow wound healing. Therefore, postoperative wet compress method is adopted.