Assessing babies and pre-school children for strabismus

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This article will discuss some of the methods that optometrists use to detect the presence of strabismus during case finding examinations or screening. Management protocols for strabismus will not be discussed but, needless to say, within the profession there is a range of skill sets. Some optometrists might refer all strabismus patients for ophthalmological management. Others, who have the clinical knowledge and experience to treat those types of strabismus that are likely to respond to the therapeutic interventions available to optometrists, will manage the patients themselves by prescribing for refractive errors, and carrying out occlusion therapy and orthoptic exercises on suitable patients.