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Strabismus treatment
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
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In domestic and foreign practice, a system of complex treatment of concomitant strabismus is used. Treatment should begin with the appointment of optical correction of refractive errors and constant wearing of glasses. This ensures the restoration of visual acuity and helps to eliminate or reduce the angle of strabismus.
When visual functions are reduced, pleoptic treatment is prescribed (pleoptics is the treatment of amblyopia), which includes:
- occlusion (covering the better seeing eye);
- various types of light stimulation of visual functions (local illumination according to Avetisov, Küppers’ method of negative successive images);
- Campbell's method, based on stimulation of spatial and contrast sensitivity;
- laser stimulation methods;
- computer pleoptics with stimulation of color and contrast sensitivity using moving tests and the playful nature of the procedures.
Wearing glasses and pleoptic treatment are carried out under systematic supervision of a doctor with repetition, if necessary, of treatment sessions. It is often carried out in specialized children's preschool and school institutions (kindergartens, schools, sanatoriums, children's vision protection offices - district, city, regional, republican). Treatment is carried out by specially trained nurses - orthoptists.
The surgical stage is resorted to if glasses do not eliminate the deviation (70% of patients) within 1.5-2 years. It is advisable to perform the operation at preschool age if strabismus occurs before 3-4 years.
Often, surgical treatment is carried out in two or three stages with an interval of 6-8 months, especially in complex and combined forms of the disease.
To restore binocular vision, an orthopto-diploptic treatment system is used (pre- and postoperative).
Orthopto-diploptic treatment methods are carried out using special devices that stimulate binocular visual functions and lead to the restoration of depth and stereoscopic vision; they are also carried out by orthoptist nurses in courses that are systematically repeated.