What exactly is exotropia?

Question

Around nine months old I was diagnosed with this eye condition and have lived with it for my entire life without understanding what it means, only that I have had to wear glasses/contacts since then. Could someone please explain what this condition is and what the effects of it are?

Answer 1

Exotropia is the outward deviation (turn) of an eye. The deviation may occur while fixating (looking at) distance objects, near objects or both. Fortunately, most exotropia is intermittent (see pictures below -- straight and deviated) and this means that the eye deviation or turn occurs only some of the time. As long as the eyes are straight some of the time, the brain will develop some normal functioning of the eyes (stereoscopic depth perception). Since the brain and eyes work properly some of the time, time is on your side.

Treatment for intermittent exotropia does not have to occur immediately. As a matter of fact, early surgery has the potential of disturbing the ability of the brain for fusion in the future and can cause a permanent reduction in vision (amblyopia).

When the turn occurs during distance viewing the major problem is cosmetic. The child might be accused of daydreaming or not paying attention. The parents will often notice the turn then bring their child to the eye doctor who won't find it. This is because the turn usually occurs during times of inattention, fatigue, or distance viewing not during the anxiety-provoking eye examination. These children often close their eye in bright sunlight.

Treatment consists of vision therapy, patching, glasses and/or surgery. The most successful form of treatment is vision therapy. Therapy should be directed at the cause. In a comparative study using both Optometric and Ophthalmological journals, vision therapy had an overall success rate of 78% as compared to surgery of 48%. Thus, surgery should be reserved only for the large angle intermittent exotropes or when vision therapy is not as successful as expected.

Answer 2

Exotropia is a form of strabismus where the eyes are turned outward. Generally, exotropia progresses in frequency and duration. As the disorder progresses, the eyes will start to turn out when looking at close objects as well as those in the distance. If left untreated, the eye may turn out continually, causing a loss of binocular vision.

Answer 3

http://www.aapos.org/displaycommon.cfm?a...

Answer 4

This is commonly called being "wall eyed". My sister, who has amblyopia, was offered a choice to undergo surgery as a child to fix her crossed eyes. Our parents decided against it because they were told that it would be only cosmetic and wouldn't help with her eye problem but she also risked becoming permanently wall-eyed.