Eye not centered why

Strabismus is when eyes don't line up or when one or both eyes wander. The eyes may turn:. When eyes don't line up together, the straight or straighter eye becomes dominant. The vision strength acuity of this eye stays normal because the eye and its connection to the brain are working as they should. The misaligned or weaker eye, though, doesn't focus as it should and its connection to the brain doesn't form correctly. Sometimes, strabismus is very noticeable. Other times, it might only be noticed when a child is tired or looking at something very closely.

Strabismus usually can be fixed when found and treated early. If it's not treated, the brain eventually will ignore the visual images of the weaker eye. This change — called amblyopia , or "lazy eye" — can make vision blurry, cause double vision, and harm a child's depth perception seeing in 3D. These problems can become permanent if they're not treated. Kids can be born with strabismus or develop it in childhood.

Often, it's caused by a problem with the muscles that move the eyes, and can run in families. Most kids with strabismus are diagnosed when they're between 1 and 4 years old. The brain detects these signals, puts them together to form an image, and that's how you see.

It's amazing that it all happens so quickly — in a split second! When a kid has strabismus, the eyes don't focus together on the same object and each eye sends a different picture to the brain. As a result, the brain might see two images double vision or the object looks blurry.

Kids' brains are really smart, and they don't like getting two different pictures instead of one. To fix the problem, the brain may ignore the picture coming from the one eye so it gets only one clear image. By shutting off the bad eye in favor of the good one, the bad eye gets weak or lazy causing amblyopia , and without treatment the bad eye might eventually even become blind.

Usually doctors diagnose strabismus when a baby or young kid has a regular checkup. If a doctor or parent suspects a kid has strabismus, he or she will be sent to a special eye doctor called an ophthalmologist say: af-thal-MAH-luh-jist.

The doctor will examine the kid's eyes and ask him or her to read a chart on the wall or look into a microscope-type machine. Proper eye alignment is important to avoid seeing double, for good depth perception, and to prevent the development of poor vision in the turned eye.

When the eyes are misaligned, the brain receives two different images. At first, this may create double vision and confusion. But over time the brain will learn to ignore the image from the turned eye. Untreated, eye turning can lead to permanently reduced vision in one eye. This condition is called amblyopia or lazy eye. Some babies' eyes may appear to be misaligned, but they are actually both aiming at the same object.

This is a condition called pseudostrabismus or false strabismus. The appearance of crossed eyes may be due to extra skin that covers the inner corner of the eyes or a wide bridge of the nose. Usually, the appearance of crossed eyes will go away as the baby's face begins to grow.

Strabismus usually develops in infants and young children, most often by age 3. But older children and adults can also develop the condition.

People often believe that a child with strabismus will outgrow the condition. However, this is not true. In fact, strabismus may get worse without treatment. A doctor of optometry should examine any child older than 4 months whose eyes do not appear to be straight all the time. Strabismus can be caused by problems with the eye muscles, the nerves that transmit information to the muscles, or the control center in the brain that directs eye movements.

Adults with strabismus are not at risk of developing amblyopia because the connections between the eye and the brain are already formed and cannot be suppressed.

The symptoms described above may not necessarily mean that your child has strabismus; however, if you observe one or more of these symptoms, contact your child's eye doctor for a complete exam. The causes of eye misalignment are various, and sometimes unknown. Potential causes include high farsightedness, thyroid eye disease, cataract, eye injuries, myasthenia gravis, cranial nerve palsies, and in some patients it may be caused by brain or birth problems.

Six eye muscles control eye movement and are attached to the outside of each eye. Two muscles in each eye move the eye right or left while the other four muscles move it up or down and control tilting movements. To focus both eyes on a single target, all 6 eye muscles on each eye must work together with the corresponding muscles of the opposite eye. The brain coordinates these eye muscle movements. In infants, it is often difficult to determine the difference between true strabismus misaligned eyes and eyes that appear to be crossed.

Young children often have a wide, flat nasal bridge and a fold of skin at the inner eyelid epicanthal fold that tends to hide the white sclera of the eye when looking in side gaze, thus causing the eyes to appear crossed. An ophthalmologist can readily distinguish true strabismus from the optical illusion called pseudo-strabismus which resolves spontaneously with growth during childhood development.

Children should undergo vision screening by a family doctor, pediatrician, or ophthalmologist at birth, six months of age, three years of age, and pre-school to detect potential eye problems early while they can still be treated.

The treatment goal for strabismus is to allow for normal vision development, realign the eyes, prevent amblyopia lazy eye , and attempt to restore stereo or 3-dimensional vision. If amblyopia is detected in the first few years of life, treatment is often successful.