Exotropia

Exotropia is a category of squint wherein the eyes of the patient are deviated towards the temple or in simple words the eyes are out turned. There are many sub-divisions of exotropia. It may be present constantly or manifest only every now and then. It may or may not be associated with refractive error. As with any type of squint, the stereoscopic vision may be very much affected or subnormal, depending on the onset of squinting. The stereoscopic vision is required in many aspects of day to day life as well as in highly skilled professions such as pilots, Navy, Certain branches of Medicine like Ophthalmology.

The patients can have symptoms of difficulty in continuous near work or doubling of letters. There may be difficulty in seeing Satlight or beam lights of vehicles. Or in most cases the squint is obvious in the outlook. Sometimes the squinting develops after damage to vision resulting from injury, complications from other diseases.

In all cases, first step is towards restoring good vision and then correction of squinting. The options include muscle exercises and surgery. The surgery aims to make the eyes straight by working on the muscles which are responsible for eye movements, either by weakening or strengthening the muscles.