What Is Adult Strabismus?

Adult strabismus (crossed eyes) is when your eyes are not lined up properly and they point in different directions. One eye may look straight ahead while the other eye turns in, out, up, or down. The misalignment can shift from one eye to the other. Strabismus affects vision, since both eyes must aim at the same spot together to see properly.

There Are Six Eye Muscles That Control Eye Movement

One muscle moves the eye to the right, and one muscle moves the eye to the left. The other four muscles move the eye up, down, and at an angle. In order to focus on a single image, all six eye muscles must work together.

What Causes Adult Strabismus (Crossed Eyes)?

To line up and focus both eyes on a single target, all muscles in both eyes must be balanced and working together. The brain controls these muscles. People who have strabismus usually have a problem that can affect eye muscles. Some of those problems may include:

• Health problems such as diabetes, thyroid eye disease (or TED, also known as Graves’ eye disease), Myasthenia gravis, brain tumors, or a stroke
• Accidents or head injury
• Damage to eye muscles during some kind of eye surgery

Most adults with strabismus have had it since they were children. But sometimes it starts later in life. Adults who develop strabismus after childhood often have double vision. This is because their brains have already learned to receive images from both eyes. Their brains cannot ignore the image from the turned eye, so they see two images.