latent squint

Deviation of an eye from the visual axis that occurs by covering one or more eyes. With both eyes open, the visual axes are aligned. When one eye is covered, it deviates. Minimal heterophoria is present in most people and asymptomatic. Small latent divergent squints are common in children up to age 5 and, because they’re not associated with adverse effects, don’t require intervention. Small latent convergent squints are often accompanied by hypermetropia, for which corrective lenses are prescribed to prevent squint progression.

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heterophoria

References in periodicals archive

Latent squints result in the ocular misalignment being suppressed by the ocular fusional mechanisms (the mechanisms by which both eyes lock onto the same target when a corresponding image reaches both eyes), whereas manifest squints are not.

Strabismus: background and surgical techniques

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