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Asked by to Michael on 18 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
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Michael Kelly answered on 18 Jun 2014:
The word ‘squint’ sometimes means to screw your eyes up to see in dazzling light or it sometimes mean that one eye is looking in a different direction to the other eye. So the first type of squint is caused by bright lights, but I think you are more interested in the second type, the medical word is strabismus or ‘strab’ for short.
There are lots of different causes for strabismus. It might be worth thinking about how we control where our eyes are directed. Each eye has six muscles, and these move the eyes so that they are both looking the the same thing.
If a muscle is injured the eye with the damaged muscle cannot move in its normal way.
Sometimes a muscle is placed on the wrong part of the eye so it is restricted in its movement. This type often needs an operation to correct it. The commonest type of strabismus is caused by the eyes being very long sighted. This causes a squint because the control of the eye’s focussing also tends to bring the eyes together, so without glasses the eyes turn in. When this happens the person needs to wear their glasses all the time to control the turning in.
I hope this answers your question, please ask more if you want.
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Comments
liarockey commented on :
Thank you for your answer!
I have a squint where either one of my eyes drifts out. I can control it, but I still notice double vision when I have it. Do you know what it is?
Michael commented on :
It sounds like a divergent strabismus, or exotropia. Its most commonly caused by a small misalignment in the muscle insertions into the eye, and because you get double vision it sounds like it came on after you were an infant. Have you seen your doctor or optometrist about this ? If not I strongly recommend that you do.