Patient's question:
My daughter is 12 years old. She was diagnosed with hyperopia at the age of 6 by a local doctor and wore corrective glasses for two years. After removing the glasses, we noticed that she has a head tilt when looking at things, especially when watching TV. In October last year, we went to Shanghai Huashen Hospital, where they said she needed surgery. I don’t know what to do, so I came here for advice.First follow-up question:
Attending physician:
Thank you for your prompt reply. In my daughter’s case, it should be considered strabismus. In October 2005, Shanghai Huashen Wuguang Hospital diagnosed it as inferior oblique muscle hypertrophy and recommended surgery. Do you really have to have surgery? Are there any other methods? About this surgery
Doctor's answer:
We often see many children tilting their heads, and the more they try to look carefully at something, the more obvious it becomes. Most parents believe this is due to neck problems, but in fact, more than half of children with a tilted head may be caused by strabismus of the eyes, which we call ophthalmic torticollis. Clinically, for children with no obvious abnormalities in neck muscles but a tilted head, ophthalmic torticollis should be considered. Ophthalmic torticollis is mostly caused by congenital muscle paralysis of the eye muscles, which results in movement disorders of the eye muscles in certain directions, causing diplopia (seeing two non-overlapping images). To avoid diplopia, the body develops a compensatory response. When the child's head adopts a special position (often showing torticollis), the diplopia disappears, thereby reducing discomfort caused by strabismus and maintaining binocular vision, which helps protect visual function.