Among fifth and sixth grade children convergence insufficiency is 13%. In studies that used standardized definitions of Convergence insufficiency, investigators have reported a prevalence of 4.2% to 6% in school and clinic settings. The standard definition of Convergence insufficiency is exophoria greater at near than at distance, a receded near point of convergence, and reduced convergence amplitudes at near.

Strabismus can be seen in Down syndrome, Loeys-Dietz syndrome, cerebral palsy, and Edwards syndrome. The risk is increased among those with a family history of the condition.

Esophoria is an eye condition involving inward deviation of the eye, usually due to extra-ocular muscle imbalance. It is a type of heterophoria.

Causes include:

- Refractive errors

- Divergence insufficiency

- Convergence excess; this can be due to nerve, muscle, congenital or mechanical anomalies.

Unlike esotropia, fusion is possible and therefore diplopia is uncommon.

The symptoms and signs associated with convergence insufficiency are related to prolonged, visually demanding, near-centered tasks. They may include, but are not limited to, diplopia (double vision), asthenopia (eye strain), transient blurred vision, difficulty sustaining near-visual function, abnormal fatigue,

headache, and abnormal postural adaptation, among others. In some cases, difficulty with making eye contact have been noted as a complaint amongst sufferers.

Note that some Internet resources confuse convergence and divergence dysfunction, reversing them.

People of all ages who have noticeable strabismus may experience psychosocial difficulties. Attention has also been drawn to potential socioeconomic impact resulting from cases of detectable strabismus. A socioeconomic consideration exists as well in the context of decisions regarding strabismus treatment, including efforts to re-establish binocular vision and the possibility of stereopsis recovery.

One study has shown that strabismic children commonly exhibit behaviors marked by higher degrees of inhibition, anxiety, and emotional distress, often leading to outright emotional disorders. These disorders are often related to a negative perception of the child by peers. This is due not only to an altered aesthetic appearance, but also because of the inherent symbolic nature of the eye and gaze, and the vitally important role they play in an individual's life as social components. For some, these issues improved dramatically following strabismus surgery. Notably, strabismus interferes with normal eye contact, often causing embarrassment, anger, and feelings of awkwardness, thereby affecting social communication in a fundamental way, with a possible negative effect on self esteem.

Children with strabismus, particularly those with exotropia (an outward turn), may be more likely to develop a mental health disorder than normal-sighted children. Researchers have theorized that esotropia (an inward turn) was not found to be linked to a higher propensity for mental illness due to the age range of the participants, as well as the shorter follow-up time period; esotropic children were monitored to a mean age of 15.8 years, compared with 20.3 years for the exotropic group. A subsequent study with participants from the same area monitored congenital esotropia patients for a longer time period; results indicated that esotropic patients "were" also more likely to develop mental illness of some sort upon reaching early adulthood, similar to those with constant exotropia, intermittent exotropia, or convergence insufficiency. The likelihood was 2.6 times that of controls. No apparent association with premature birth was observed, and no evidence was found linking later onset of mental illness to psychosocial stressors frequently encountered by those with strabismus.

Investigations have highlighted the impact that strabismus may typically have on quality of life. Studies in which subjects were shown images of strabismic and non-strabismic persons showed a strong negative bias towards those visibly displaying the condition, clearly demonstrating the potential for future socioeconomic implications with regard to employability, as well as other psychosocial effects related to an individual's overall happiness.

Adult and child observers perceived a right heterotropia as more disturbing than a left heterotropia, and child observers perceived an esotropia as "worse" than an exotropia. Successful surgical correction of strabismus—for adult patients as well as children—has been shown to have a significantly positive effect on psychological well-being.

Very little research exists regarding coping strategies employed by adult strabismics. One study categorized coping methods into three subcategories: avoidance (refraining from participation an activity), distraction (deflecting attention from the condition), and adjustment (approaching an activity differently). The authors of the study suggested that individuals with strabismus may benefit from psychosocial support such as interpersonal skills training.

No studies have evaluated whether psychosocial interventions have had any benefits on individuals undergoing strabismus surgery.

Exophoria can be caused by several factors, which include:

- Refractive errors - distance and near deviation approximately equal.

- Divergence excess - exodeviation is more than 15 dioptres greater for distance than near deviation.

- Convergence insufficiency - near exodeviation greater than distance deviation.

These can be due to nerve, muscle, or congenital problems, or due to mechanical anomalies. Unlike exotropia, fusion is possible in this condition, causing diplopia to be uncommon.

Accommodative insufficiency (AI) involves the inability of the eye to focus properly on an object. AI is generally considered separate from presbyopia, but mechanically both conditions represent a difficulty engaging the near vision system (accommodation) to see near objects clearly. However, AI is the term used for a patient where normal near vision is expected, whereas presbyopia is specifically the loss of accommodation due to age. Approximately 80 percent of children diagnosed with convergence excess also demonstrate AI, a relationship attributed to the accommodative convergence.

"Congenital esotropia," or "infantile esotropia," is a specific sub-type of primary concomitant esotropia. It is a constant esotropia of large and consistent size with onset between birth and six months of age. It is not associated with hyperopia, so the exertion of accommodative effort will not significantly affect the angle of deviation. It is, however, associated with other ocular dysfunctions including oblique muscle over-actions, Dissociated Vertical Deviation (DVD,) Manifest Latent Nystagmus, and defective abduction, which develops as a consequence of the tendency of those with infantile esotropia to 'cross fixate.' Cross fixation involves the use of the right eye to look to the left and the left eye to look to the right; a visual pattern that will be 'natural' for the person with the large angle esotropia whose eye is already deviated towards the opposing side.

The origin of the condition is unknown, and its early onset means that the affected individual's potential for developing binocular vision is limited. The appropriate treatment approach remains a matter of some debate. Some ophthalmologists favour an early surgical approach as offering the best prospect of binocularity whilst others remain unconvinced that the prospects of achieving this result are good enough to justify the increased complexity and risk associated with operating on those under the age of one year.

Far-sightedness, also known as hyperopia, is a condition of the eye in which light is focused behind, instead of on, the retina. This results in close objects appearing blurry, while far objects may appear normal. As the condition worsens, objects at all distances may be blurry. Other symptoms may include headaches and eye strain. People may also experience accommodative dysfunction, binocular dysfunction, amblyopia, and strabismus.

The cause is an imperfection of the eyes. Often it occurs when the eyeball is too short, or the lens or cornea is misshapen. Risk factors include a family history of the condition, diabetes, certain medications, and tumors around the eye. It is a type of refractive error. Diagnosis is based on an eye exam.

Management can occur with eyeglasses, contact lenses, or surgery. Glasses are easiest while contact lenses can provide a wider field of vision. Surgery works by changing the shape of the cornea. Far-sightedness primarily affects young children, with rates of 8% at 6 years and 1% at 15 years. It then becomes more common again after the age of 40, affecting about half of people.

Incomitant esotropias are conditions in which the esotropia varies in size with direction of gaze. They can occur in both childhood and adulthood, and arise as a result of neurological, mechanical or myogenic problems. These problems may directly affect the extra-ocular muscles themselves, and may also result from conditions affecting the nerve or blood supply to these muscles or the bony orbital structures surrounding them. Examples of conditions giving rise to an esotropia might include a VIth cranial nerve (or Abducens) palsy, Duane's syndrome or orbital injury.

A spasm of accommodation (also known as a ciliary spasm, an accommodation, or accommodative spasm) is a condition in which the ciliary muscle of the eye remains in a constant state of contraction. Normal accommodation allows the eye to "accommodate" for near-vision. However in a state of perpetual contraction, the ciliary muscle cannot relax when viewing distant objects. This causes vision to blur when attempting to view objects from a distance. This may cause pseudomyopia or latent hyperopia.

Although antimuscarinic drops (homoatropine 5%) can be applied topically to relax the muscle, this leaves the individual without any accommodation and, depending on refractive error, unable to see well at near distances. Also, excessive pupil dilation may occur as an unwanted side effect. This dilation may pose a problem since a larger pupil is less efficient at focusing light (see pupil, aperture, and optical aberration for more.)

Patients who have accommodative spasm may benefit from being given glasses or contacts that account for the problem or by using vision therapy techniques to regain control of the accommodative system..

Possible clinical findings include:

Normal Amplitude of accommodation and Near point of convergence

Reduced Negative relative accommodation

Difficulty clearing plus on facility testing

Pseudomyopia refers to an intermittent and temporary shift in refractive error of the eye towards myopia, in which the focusing of light in front of the retina is due to a transient spasm of the ciliary muscle causing an increase in the refractive power of the eye. It may be either organic, through stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system, or functional in origin, through eye strain or fatigue of ocular systems. It is common in young adults who have active accommodation, and classically occurs after a change in visual requirements, such as students preparing for an exam, or a change in occupation.

The major symptom is intermittent blurring of distance vision particularly noticeable after prolonged periods of near work, and symptoms of asthenopia. The vision may clear temporarily using concave (minus) lenses. The diagnosis is done by cycloplegic refraction using a strong cycloplegic like atropine or homatropine eye drops. Accommodative amplitude and facility may be reduced as a result of the ciliary muscle spasm.

Treatment is dependent on the underlying aetiology. Organic causes may include systemic or ocular medications, brain stem injury, or active ocular inflammation such as uveitis. Functional pseudomyopia is managed though modification of working conditions, an updated refraction, typically involving a reduction of a myopic prescription to some lower myopic prescription, or through appropriate ocular exercises.

As hyperopia is the result of the visual image being focused behind the retina, it has two main causes:

- Low converging power of eye lens because of weak action of ciliary muscles

- Abnormal shape of the cornea

Far-sightedness is often present from birth, but children have a very flexible eye lens, which helps to compensate. In rare instances hyperopia can be due to diabetes, and problems with the blood vessels in the retina.

Presbyopia is a condition associated with aging of the eye that results in progressively worsening ability to focus clearly on close objects. Symptoms include difficulty reading small print, having to hold reading material farther away, headaches, and eyestrain. Different people will have different degrees of problems. Other types of refractive errors may exist at the same time as presbyopia.

Presbyopia is a natural part of the aging process. It is due to hardening of the lens of the eye causing the eye to focus light behind rather than on the retina when looking at close objects. It is a type of refractive error along with nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. Diagnosis is by an eye examination.

Treatment is typically with eye glasses. The eyeglasses used have higher focusing power in the lower portion of the lens. Off the shelf reading glasses may be sufficient for some.

People over 35 are at risk for developing presbyopia and all people become affected to some degree. The condition was mentioned as early as the writings of Aristotle in the 4th century BC. Glass lenses first came into use for the problem in the late 13th century.

Many people with near-sightedness can read comfortably without eyeglasses or contact lenses even after age forty. However, their myopia does not disappear and the long-distance visual challenges remain. Myopes considering refractive surgery are advised that surgically correcting their nearsightedness may be a disadvantage after age forty, when the eyes become presbyopic and lose their ability to accommodate or change focus, because they will then need to use glasses for reading. Myopes with astigmatism find near vision better, though not perfect, without glasses or contact lenses when presbyopia sets in, but the more astigmatism, the poorer the uncorrected near vision.

A surgical technique offered is to create a "reading eye" and a "distance vision eye," a technique commonly used in contact lens practice, known as monovision. Monovision can be created with contact lenses, so candidates for this procedure can determine if they are prepared to have their corneas reshaped by surgery to cause this effect permanently.

Exophoria is particularly common in infancy and childhood, and increases with age.

Sometimes asthenopia can be due to specific visual problems—for example, uncorrected refraction errors or binocular vision problems such as accommodative insufficiency or heterophoria. It is often caused by the viewing of monitors such as those of computers or phones for prolonged periods of time.

While preventive measures, such as taking breaks from activities that cause eye strain are suggested, there are certain treatments which a person suffering from the condition can take to ease the pain or discomfort that the affliction causes. Perhaps the most effective of these is to remove all light sources from a room and allow the eyes to relax in darkness. Free of needing to focus, the eyes will naturally relax over time, and relieve the discomfort that comes with the strain. Cool compresses also help to some degree, though care should be taken to not use anything cold enough to damage the eyes themselves (such as ice). A number of companies have released "computer glasses" which, through the use of specially tinted lenses, help alleviate many of the factors which cause eye strain, though they do not completely prevent it. Rather, they just make it harder to strain the eye.

Accommodative infacility is the inability to change the accommodation of the eye with enough speed and accuracy to achieve normal function. This can result in visual fatigue, headaches, and difficulty reading. The delay in accurate accommodation also makes vision blurry for a moment when switching between distant and near objects. The duration and extent of this blurriness depends on the extent of the deficit.

Iridoplegia is the paralysis of the sphincter of the iris. It can occur in due to direct orbital injury, which may result in short lived blurred vision.

It most commonly affects younger women (2.6:1 female preponderance) and is unilateral in 80% of cases. Average age of onset is 32 years.

Adie's syndrome is not life-threatening or disabling. As such, there is no mortality rate relating to the condition; however, loss of deep tendon reflexes is permanent and may progress over time.

Streff syndrome is a vision condition primarily exhibited by children under periods of visual or emotional stress.

Frequently patients will have reduced stereopsis, large accommodative lag on dynamic retinoscopy, and a reduced visual field (tubular or spiral field). Streff Syndrome was first described in 1962 by an optometrist, Dr. John Streff as Non-malingering syndrome. In 1962, Dr. Streff and Dr. Richard Apell expanded the concept to add early adaptive syndrome as a precursor to Streff syndrome. Dr. Streff believed the visual changes were induced by stress from reading. There is dispute on the taxonomy of functional vision defects. Some research indicates that Streff syndrome may be caused by a dysfunction in the magnocellular pathway of the retinal ganglion cells. These cells are only 10% of the retinal nerve cells and register motion detection.

Early Adaptive Syndrome

It can be of three types:

1. accommodative iridoplegia- Noncontraction of pupils during accommodation.

2. complete iridoplegia- Iris fails to respond to any stimulation.

3. reflex iridoplegia- The absence of light reflex, with retention of accommodation reflex. Also called Argyll Robertson pupil.

Parinaud's Syndrome results from injury, either direct or compressive, to the dorsal midbrain. Specifically, compression or ischemic damage of the mesencephalic tectum, including the superior colliculus adjacent oculomotor (origin of cranial nerve III) and Edinger-Westphal nuclei, causing dysfunction to the motor function of the eye.

Classically, it has been associated with three major groups:

1. Young patients with brain tumors in the pineal gland or midbrain: pinealoma (intracranial germinomas) are the most common lesion producing this syndrome.

2. Women in their 20s-30s with multiple sclerosis

3. Older patients following stroke of the upper brainstem

However, any other compression, ischemia or damage to this region can produce these phenomena: obstructive hydrocephalus, midbrain hemorrhage, cerebral arteriovenous malformation, trauma and brainstem toxoplasmosis infection. Neoplasms and giant aneurysms of the posterior fossa have also been associated with the midbrain syndrome.

Vertical supranuclear ophthalmoplegia has also been associated with metabolic disorders, such as Niemann-Pick disease, Wilson's disease, kernicterus, and barbiturate overdose.