Treatments and surgery for a squint

The main treatments for a squint are:

• Glasses – these can help if a squint is caused by a problem with your child’s eyesight, such as long-sightedness.
• Eye exercises – exercises for the muscles that control eye movement may sometimes help the eyes work together better.
• Surgery – this involves moving the muscles that control eye movement so the eyes line up correctly. It may be recommended if glasses are not fully effective on their own. Read more about squint surgery.
• Injections into the eye muscles – these weaken the eye muscles, which can help the eyes line up better. But the effect usually lasts less than 3 months.

Causes of squints

The exact cause of a squint is not always known.

Some people are born with a squint and others develop one later in life. Sometimes they run in families.

In children, a squint is often caused by the eye attempting to overcome a vision problem, such as:

• short-sightedness – difficulty seeing things that are far away
• long-sightedness – difficulty seeing nearby objects
• astigmatism – where the front of the eye is unevenly curved, causing blurred vision