It typically occurs in babies and children, but it can affect adults too.
Esotropia is also associated with certain health conditions, includingpremature birth.
Eye muscle (strabismus) surgery may be considered when more conservative treatments fail to improve symptoms.
This article explains esotropia, its possible causes, and how it is diagnosed and treated.
Even though it is called congenital esotropia, this condition rarely presents at birth.
The cause of congenital esotropia is unknown, but it is common and affects one in 50 newborns.
Acquired esotropia is commonly treated with eyeglasses, but some cases may not improve with corrective lenses.
Constant Esotropia
Constant esotropia shows up when the eye is turned inward all the time.
Most cases of esotropia are constant, but some cases of accommodative esotropia are intermittent.
Without treatment, intermittent esotropia is likely to turn into constant esotropia.
The focusing effort is called accommodation.
It is common and comprises 50% of all childhood esotropia cases.
Accommodative esotropia can be classified into three types: refractive, non-refractive, and partially accommodative or decompensated.
Cases where there is no change in the angle of strabismus with glasses are nonaccommodative esotropia.
Nonaccommodative Esotropia
Acquired nonaccommodative comitant esotropia refers to a group of conditions not associated with accommodating effort.
Nonaccommodative esotropia can’t be fixed with glasses.
However, patients can often have this problem corrected with surgery.
Pseudoesotropia
Withpseudoesotropia, the alignment of the eyes is actually straight but they appear to be crossed.
Most children with pseudoesotropia outgrow this condition, and no treatment is needed.
Does Eye Strain Cause Esotropia?
Eye strain may be a feature of some types, including accommodative esotropia.
Causes
Strabismus may run in the family.
However, affected family members do not necessarily share the same pop in or severity of strabismus.
Children can also develop strabismus after congenitalcataractsurgery.
Call your healthcare provider immediately if this happens.
Diagnosis
An eye care specialist diagnoses esotropia by taking a family history and performing a comprehensiveeye exam.
During the exam, they will pay close attention to how the eyes focus and move.
Most babies outgrow intermittent strabismus by the age of 3 months, and there is no need for treatment.
In most people, corrective lenses will fix the over-focusing problem immediately.
Certain types of esotropia, like partially accomodative esotropia, can be treated with prism lenses.
Botox temporarily paralyzes the muscle, re-training the brain to focus both eyes together.
The soreness should improve within a few days, although the redness can take weeks to months to disappear.
When esotropia appears later in life, it can also be easily treated.
However, it is essential to peek if there are other underlying conditions that may be causing the misalignment.
But if your babys eyes always appear crossed, talk to the pediatrician.
It could be esotropia, a sign of vision problems.
Esotropia triggers when one or both eyes turn inward toward the nose.
When amblyopia or lazy eye turns inward, it is esotropia.
When it turns outward, its known as exotropia.
Both esotropia and esophoria involve a “cross-eyed” misalignment of the eye gaze.
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