For years, many doctors have believed that most children will develop crossed eyes, or esotropia, either at birth or during the first six months of life. Now, a new study from East Tennessee State University's James H. Quillen College of Medicine suggests just the opposite. In the April issue of Ophthalmology , the clinical journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, ETSU faculty member Dr. Brian Mohney reports on the results of a three-year study involving more than 220 children in which he found a higher incidence of esotropia among children older than six months. According to Mohney, a number of physicians have long considered congenital esotropia to be the most common type of crossed eyes, followed by accommodative esotropia.
Congenital esotropia affects children at birth or within the first six months.
These patients require surgery often more than once and typically do not have to wear glasses. Those children with accommodative esotropia develop crossed eyes after the first six months of life. Approximately 60 percent of these patients can have the problem fully corrected by wearing glasses, Mohney explained. The other 40 percent will require both surgery and the use of glasses. For example, many ophthalmologists believed that congenital esotropia was the most common.