STRABISMUS

Strabismus, or cross-eyes, is caused by an unequal pull on the muscles of the eyeball so that the two eyes are not directed toward the same point at the same time. This lack of fusion causes many distressing phys­ical conditions, such as insomnia, intense fatigue, even nausea and gastric disturbances. It is usually accom­panied by an intense sensation of sleepiness when one attempts to read.

The personality effects of strabismus appear particularly in children who are often ill-tempered and highly nervous. They often reveal stubbornness, avoid other children, and are not only unsocial but sometimes become sufficiently anti-social to be classed as prob­lem children.

In most cases of strabismus, the sufferer sees better with one eye than with the other. The composite pic­ture formed by the two images, one stronger than the other, is confused. Because of the inability to fuse properly, the stronger eye becomes stronger, while the weaker eye grows weaker until it loses the sense of sight.

Babies frequently develop strabismus soon after birth, though it more commonly appears in the third or fourth year; the condition is sometimes acquired in later life as a result of mental or physical strain or a sudden, severe emotional shock or some serious illness.

The orthodox treatment for strabismus is glasses, often with prisms incorporated in them, or an oper­ation. In operating, one muscle is cut and another is tied and they are left this way. No vision is built up in the center and the eye constantly struggles to get back to its crossed position where it built up a false center of vision on the retina. Naturally, the eye at­tempts to get back into the position where it sees best. This constant struggle results in continual nerve strain which wreaks havoc with the patient's nervous system.

The visual education method is to build up the nerves in the center of vision and relax the tense muscle so that the eye will naturally come back to its right position.

This inability to fuse two images into a single picture often results in double pictures of people and confused multiple images of every object seen.

Our objective is to end this nerve-racking and an­noying situation by teaching the eyes and the mind to co-ordinate through physical and mental exercises.

In correcting strabismus in very young children, patch the good eye so that the child will be compelled to use the one that is crossed and thus stimulate its functional activity. At first this is apt to upset the child and the patch should be removed at the end of a few minutes (if he is only a baby or toddler); at the end of an hour if he is older. In time it should be left on all day.

A fourteen-year-old girl with strabismus was brought to me by her mother. On the fourth lesson the eye was straight and the vision normal. It is interesting but not surprising to observe that as soon as the eye difficulty was cleared up, the little girl's grades in school improved and she went to the head of her class.

In our work on strabismus we will start with the re­laxing exercises: sunning, palming, the Long Swing and the Short Swing.

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