Heterophoria investigation Flashcards
what is the meaning of co-morbility when considering the cause of the heterophoria
if the heterophoria may be caused by another eye condition and if you want to treat that eye condition first which can cause a decompensating heterophoria to disappear
what 2 things do you want to consider when deciding on your management
- Further monitoring/immediate treatment?
i.e. isit bad enough to treat now or you can just manage it more closely - What type of treatment?
is most appropriate for a particular case of heterophoria
what is heterophoria also known as
latent strabismus
what occurs in someone with a heterophoria when both of their eyes are uncovered
the visual axes are directed towards the fixation target
what occurs in someone with a heterophoria when the eyes are dissociated (i.e. one eye is covered)
the eye behind the occluder deviates in a different direction away from the fixation point
what occurs in someone with a orthophoria when both of their eyes are uncovered
the visual axes are directed towards the fixation target
what occurs in someone with a orthophoria when the eyes are dissociated (i.e. one eye is covered)
the visual axes are still directed towards the fixation target
what are the 2 types of heterophoria
- concomitant
or - incomitant
what is a concomitant heterophoria
- Angle of the deviation remains the same in all directions of gaze
- Angle of the deviation remains the same no matter which eye is fixing.
- Angle may vary over viewing distance
what is a incomitant heterophoria
- Angle of the deviation differs in different directions of gaze
- Angle is dependant on which eye is fixing
how do you decide if a heterophoria is concomitant or incomitant
by doing a ocular motility test
what will you do if there is a recent onset of incomitant heterophoria discovered by a ocular motility test and why
refer the px to the eye hospital as it could be a nerve palsy or pathology
what are the 3 classifications of a concomitant strabismus exophoria
- Divergence excess
- Convergence weakness
- Non-specific
what is a divergence excess exophoria
when the exophoria is greater at distance than at near
what is a convergence weakness exophoria
when the exophoria is greater at near than at distance
what is a non-specific exophoria
when the exophoria is equal at distance and at near
what are the 3 classifications of a concomitant strabismus esophoria
- Divergence weakness
- Convergence excess
- Non-specific
what is a divergence weakness esophoria
when the esophoria is greater at distance than at near
what is a convergence excess esophoria
when the esophoria is greater at near than at distance
what is a non specific-esophoria
when the esophoria is equal at distance and at near
list the 6 types of heterophoria
- SOP
- XOP
- L HyperP
- R HyperP
- IncycloP
- ExcycloP
when is a patient with a heterophoria usually symptomatic
when it is decompensating
compensating patients dont usually get symptoms
list 6 causes of decompensation
- optical
- secondary to pathology
- accommodative anomalies
- reduced fusional reserves
- medical causes
- other causes
list 4 optical causes of decompensation
- Uncorrected, incorrect or ill corrected refractive error
- Esophoria caused by uncorrected hypermetropic refractive error
- Exophoria caused by uncorrected myopic refractive error
- Anisekonia caused by cataract surgery
how does cataract surgery cause anisekonia (different retinal images)
because it is done one eye at a time, and if both eyes are - 7.00D then this causes a anisometropic rx as after surgery one eye will be emmetropic and the other still -7.00D will cause a huge anisekonia , causing the px to decompensate
what 2 things can decompensation caused by being secondary to pathology affect
- vision
or - EOMs
e.g. an AMD px as they can’t see out of one eye
list 5 medical causes of decompensation
- Poor general health
- Trauma
- Medication
- Alcohol
- Pregnancy
how do drugs and/or alcohol cause decompensation
if a drug has a muscle relaxing property to it
alcohol always has a huge muscle relaxant effect on the body
how does pregnancy cause decompensation
it causes increased stress on the body
list 4 other causes of decompensation
- Excessive VDU work
- Increase close work
- Increase distance work
- Occupations with a lot of Monocular work (e.g. microscope)
what 2 things are the symptoms associated with heterophoria due to
- Due to effort to maintain binocular single vision (BSV) = px trying to hold eyes together
- Due to a failure to maintain binocular single vision (BSV) = px could no longer hold eyes together
what 3 symptoms occur with heterophoria as a result due to effort to maintain binocular single vision (BSV)
- Headache
- Eyestrain
- Asthenopia
what 3 symptoms occur with heterophoria as a result due to a failure to maintain binocular single vision (BSV)
- Diplopia
- Blurred vision: where letters are just pulling apart
- Jumbling of letters
in which 13 ways can you investigate and manage a heterophoria
- history
- visual acuity
- cover test
- ocular motility examination
- convergence
- accommodation
- mallet unit/fixation disparity
- prism fusion range
- stereo acuity
- prism cover test - measure angle of deviation
- AC/A ratio
- controlled binocular acuity test
- refraction and fundus examination
list 4 things you will want to ask a px in history when investigating heterophoria
- symptoms
- general health: good/bad/medication
- previous ocular history (POH): cataract surgery/strabismus surgery/change in rx
- recently changed jobs: may be doing a lot of monocular work
list 5 questions you will ask a patient if they are having symptoms associated with heterophoria and what is the reason for asking these questions
- When did they start
- How regular
- Are they progressing
- Do they become worse after any particular activity
- Can they be stopped
as trying to see how bad the problem is i.e is it decompensating? and is it progressing? and what might be the possible cause
what does a patient who says their heterophoric symptoms can be stopped by covering one eye tell you
that the problem is binocular