When you were a child and your mother told you to stop crossing your eyes because they could “stay like that forever”, was she right? Quick answer: It’s okay, you don’t need to worry.
Don’t tell your mother that we said it, but you can cross your eyes at will and without fear, guarantees the Canadian optometrist Meenal Agarwal. It won’t give you squint.
“Sometimes, when my kids walk with their feet turned in, we parents say, ‘Come on, don’t do that,’” Agarwal explains to .
“But this will become permanent? No. You cannot physically permanently change the position of your feet or eyes”, guarantees the optometrist.
Our eyes are made to move in multiple directionsthanks to six muscles that allow us to look up, down, to the sides… or, if we want, to cross our eyes on purpose.
When we cross our eyes, the main muscle in action is the medial challengeexplains Agarwal. Each eye has one of these muscles, located next to the nose. We use them constantly in everyday vision: they help each eye to rotate slightly inwards when we look at different points.
When we cross our eyes on purpose, we are just contractat the same time, the two medial rectus muscles, causing the eyes to face each other.
But, once again, Agarwal emphasizes: using both medial rectus muscles simultaneously Won’t leave your eyes permanently crossed. “Nothing bad will happen to you”, he guarantees.
When it could be a sign of trouble
There is a important difference between crossing your eyes voluntarily, jokingly, and having a turning the eyes inward involuntarily. This second case may indeed be a cause for medical concern.
In babies: If a baby’s eyes appear to be constantly crossed, or if the inward deviation is very obvious and doesn’t go away in the first few months of life, it could be a sign of an underlying problem, explains Agarwal.
In this situation, parents should take the child to the doctor to be observed. In some babies, strabismus (persistent inward-facing eyes) may require surgeryand early treatment can be crucial for the correct development of vision. “When it is very evident, it is generally not overcome with growth alone,” he says.
In young children: Uncorrected hyperopia is a common cause of eyes turning inwards. In the office, Agarwal often sees this problem in children between three and five years old, who go to their first vision assessment appointment.
When hyperopia is not corrected with glasses, the eye muscles they try too hard to compensatewhich can cause one or both eyes to turn inward, he explains. The use of prescription glasses can solve the problem.
“It is the brain that is making the eyes work like this so that the child can see”, he says. “But, When you start wearing glasses, this effort decreasesthe vision becomes clear and the eye stops wandering.”
In adults: A sudden inward shift of one eye can be a serious sign of cerebrovascular accident (CVA)which can cause involuntary crossing of the eyes.
“If you see a 50-year-old man whose, from one moment to the next, one eye appears turned inward, is cause for alarm“, says the optometrist. “It’s going directly to a hospital emergency roombecause he may have just suffered a stroke.”
Depending on the severity of the stroke and with rehabilitation, the eye usually returns to its usual position. “Depends on how severe the stroke was“, he explains. “I’ve seen people in these circumstances with complete loss of vision.”
At any age: Problems in the brain, such as tumors, lesions or inflammation near the nerves that control eye movement, can also result in an inward-shifting eye.
“The eyes are a window into what’s going on in the rest of the body”, recalls Agarwal.
So, if your or your child’s eyes suddenly start to turn inward without control, It’s time to go to the doctor. But if you’re just crossing your eyes to be funny, feel free. They won’t get stuck like that.
