Are Asians more prone to being cross-eyed than non-Asians?

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• Good answer.

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  by xopurplefizzox on December 3rd, 2005

• Asians generally have more eye problems, especially refractive and strabismus problems.
  
  They also lack the supra-orbital fold found in all other ethnicities... however this is not necessarily a problem, but just an aesthetic issue. There are however blepharoplasty surgeries done on "asian eyes" to add that fold/crease to the upper eyelid.
  
  As for the actual two problems, refractive problems result in lack of clear focusing ability in distant objects. While half of the human population has some (at least minor) near-sightedness, the severity of nearsightedness is much more for Asian-ethnicities. Diopter power wise, an average near-sighted person may need a eyeglass prescrition between -1 to -2 diopters while asian typically need -3, -4, -5 or even higher for correction. Farsightedness is usually rare among most humans.
  
  The other eye problem asians are much more prone to is called strabismus. It is a lasck of parallelism of the visual gaze between the two eyes. Basically, it means the eye converge toward eachother and become cross-eyed (Esotropia) or diverge away from eachother and become wall-eyed (Exotropia). Why Asians are afflicted more with strabismus is unkown, but definitely there is a genetic component if it affects members of once ethnicity more than the rest of the human population.
  
  So what happens with Asians (or anybody) with strabismus? Can they see like the rest of us? Usually strabismus is the result of one of the six extra-ocular muscles of the eye being either too long or too short in only one eye. There are eye surgeries which can be done to correct this, but should be done while the child is young. If you wait too long, or don't have the corrective strabismus surgery, the brain will learn to interpret the overlaping images in a way that makes sense to that person. It basically learns to compensate for what would otherwise cause double-vision. The brains "learns" to put the images back together in a way it can comprehend.
  
  Once this learning is completed, if surgery is done, then the brain will not be able to correctly process the new angle that visual information is now being recieved. Hence, for older children and adults, such surgery is NOT performed.
  
  If one eye has severe strabismus to the point where the brain cannot adapt, it will generally IGNORE the visual input from that eye. The correctly angled "dominant" eye will be the only source of visual input for the brain. However, this will aslo lead to lack of stereoscopic (or 3D) vision which requires two eyes. So, there will be a lack of depth perception. It will be similar to a normal person, closing one eye, and tring to reach for an object. It's hard to guage how far away an item truly is without this "parallax" effect created by two properly functioning and properly alligned eyes which affords us the ability to see in 3D.
  
  I Hope this info was useful, and that more medical terms were explained in lay-terms effectively.
  
  The bottom line: look closely at your newborn. Inspect him or her, not as a parent, but with scrutiny. If you notice the newborn has strabismus (cross-eyed or wall-eyed), contact your Pediatrician who will refer you to an eye-surgeon (Ophthalmologist, not Optometrist!). Correct the problem early, or else later, past a "critical period" the problem will not be correctable.
  
  Cheers,
  Dr. Med Doc

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  by MedDoc on April 4th, 2010

• Asians generally have more eye problems, especially refractive and strabismus problems.
  
  They also lack the supra-orbital fold found in all other ethnicities... however this is not necessarily a problem, but just an aesthetic issue. There are however blepharoplasty surgeries done on "asian eyes" to add that fold/crease to the upper eyelid.
  
  As for the actual two problems, refractive problems result in lack of clear focusing ability in distant objects. While half of the human population has some (at least minor) near-sightedness, the severity of nearsightedness is much more for Asian-ethnicities. Diopter power wise, an average near-sighted person may need a eyeglass prescrition between -1 to -2 diopters while asian typically need -3, -4, -5 or even higher for correction. Farsightedness is usually rare among most humans.
  
  The other eye problem asians are much more prone to is called strabismus. It is a lasck of parallelism of the visual gaze between the two eyes. Basically, it means the eye converge toward eachother and become cross-eyed (Esotropia) or diverge away from eachother and become wall-eyed (Exotropia). Why Asians are afflicted more with strabismus is unkown, but definitely there is a genetic component if it affects members of once ethnicity more than the rest of the human population.
  
  So what happens with Asians (or anybody) with strabismus? Can they see like the rest of us? Usually strabismus is the result of one of the six extra-ocular muscles of the eye being either too long or too short in only one eye. There are eye surgeries which can be done to correct this, but should be done while the child is young. If you wait too long, or don't have the corrective strabismus surgery, the brain will learn to interpret the overlaping images in a way that makes sense to that person. It basically learns to compensate for what would otherwise cause double-vision. The brains "learns" to put the images back together in a way it can comprehend.
  
  Once this learning is completed, if surgery is done, then the brain will not be able to correctly process the new angle that visual information is now being recieved. Hence, for older children and adults, such surgery is NOT performed.
  
  If one eye has severe strabismus to the point where the brain cannot adapt, it will generally IGNORE the visual input from that eye. The correctly angled "dominant" eye will be the only source of visual input for the brain. However, this will aslo lead to lack of stereoscopic (or 3D) vision which requires two eyes. So, there will be a lack of depth perception. It will be similar to a normal person, closing one eye, and tring to reach for an object. It's hard to guage how far away an item truly is without this "parallax" effect created by two properly functioning and properly alligned eyes which affords us the ability to see in 3D.
  
  I Hope this info was useful, and that more medical terms were explained in lay-terms effectively.
  
  The bottom line: look closely at your newborn. Inspect him or her, not as a parent, but with scrutiny. If you notice the newborn has strabismus (cross-eyed or wall-eyed), contact your Pediatrician who will refer you to an eye-surgeon (Ophthalmologist, not Optometrist!). Correct the problem early, or else later, past a "critical period" the problem will not be correctable.
  
  Cheers,
  Dr. Med Doc

  • Report
  

  by MedDoc on April 4th, 2010

• Asians generally have more eye problems, especially refractive and strabismus problems.
  
  They also lack the supra-orbital fold found in all other ethnicities... however this is not necessarily a problem, but just an aesthetic issue. There are however blepharoplasty surgeries done on "asian eyes" to add that fold/crease to the upper eyelid.
  
  As for the actual two problems, refractive problems result in lack of clear focusing ability in distant objects. While half of the human population has some (at least minor) near-sightedness, the severity of nearsightedness is much more for Asian-ethnicities. Diopter power wise, an average near-sighted person may need a eyeglass prescrition between -1 to -2 diopters while asian typically need -3, -4, -5 or even higher for correction. Farsightedness is usually rare among most humans.
  
  The other eye problem asians are much more prone to is called strabismus. It is a lasck of parallelism of the visual gaze between the two eyes. Basically, it means the eye converge toward eachother and become cross-eyed (Esotropia) or diverge away from eachother and become wall-eyed (Exotropia). Why Asians are afflicted more with strabismus is unkown, but definitely there is a genetic component if it affects members of once ethnicity more than the rest of the human population.
  
  So what happens with Asians (or anybody) with strabismus? Can they see like the rest of us? Usually strabismus is the result of one of the six extra-ocular muscles of the eye being either too long or too short in only one eye. There are eye surgeries which can be done to correct this, but should be done while the child is young. If you wait too long, or don't have the corrective strabismus surgery, the brain will learn to interpret the overlaping images in a way that makes sense to that person. It basically learns to compensate for what would otherwise cause double-vision. The brains "learns" to put the images back together in a way it can comprehend.
  
  Once this learning is completed, if surgery is done, then the brain will not be able to correctly process the new angle that visual information is now being recieved. Hence, for older children and adults, such surgery is NOT performed.
  
  If one eye has severe strabismus to the point where the brain cannot adapt, it will generally IGNORE the visual input from that eye. The correctly angled "dominant" eye will be the only source of visual input for the brain. However, this will aslo lead to lack of stereoscopic (or 3D) vision which requires two eyes. So, there will be a lack of depth perception. It will be similar to a normal person, closing one eye, and tring to reach for an object. It's hard to guage how far away an item truly is without this "parallax" effect created by two properly functioning and properly alligned eyes which affords us the ability to see in 3D.
  
  I Hope this info was useful, and that more medical terms were explained in lay-terms effectively.
  
  The bottom line: look closely at your newborn. Inspect him or her, not as a parent, but with scrutiny. If you notice the newborn has strabismus (cross-eyed or wall-eyed), contact your Pediatrician who will refer you to an eye-surgeon (Ophthalmologist, not Optometrist!). Correct the problem early, or else later, past a "critical period" the problem will not be correctable.
  
  Cheers,
  Dr. Med Doc

  • Report
  

  by MedDoc on April 4th, 2010