What is Binocular Vision?

What we see is the result of signals sent from the eyes to the brain. Usually, the brain receives signals from both (bi) eyes (ocular) at the same time. The information contained in the signal from each eye is slightly different and with well-functioning binocular vision, the brain is able to use these differences to judge distances and coordinate eye movements.

What is a Binocular Vision Disorder?

Binocular vision anomalies are among the most common visual disorders. They are usually associated with symptoms such as headaches, eye strain, eye pain, blurred vision, and occasionally double vision. There are many reasons binocular vision might become reduced or lost altogether, including:

• Reduced vision in one eye
• Loss of coordination of movement between the two eyes (strabismus)
• Problems with the brain comparing images from both eyes

Some common binocular vision disorders

• Strabismus: Esotropia - (eye turns in) or a constant outward deviation of the eye. Esotropia is where one eye looks directly at the object being viewed and the other is misaligned inward toward the nose. This is commonly referred to as crossed eyes or cross-eyed.
• Vergence: Convergence Insufficiency - The eyes are unable to maintain convergence at near for an extended period of time (reading a book for example). These patients may intermittently lose fusion which causes double vision and other symptoms mentioned here.
• Amblyopia: Refractive - also known as anisometropic amblyopia. This occurs when there is a high degree of nearsightedness or farsightedness in one or both eyes.

What is Squint?

A squint is also known as strabismus, where the eyes are not aligned in the same direction. Mostly children get impacted by squint eyes, and it can be constant or intermittent, but it can occur at any age. The squint can be present only part of the time, in one or alternating between two eyes. The squinting may turn in (converge), turn out (diverge), or sometimes turn up or down.

Can Squint be Corrected?

Many people think that squint is a permanent condition and cannot be corrected. But the truth is that eyes can be straightened at any age.