The perception of strabismus by children and adults.

Background: Visible strabismus has been shown to have adverse psychosocial consequences. It remains controversial if esotropia or exotropia is perceived more negatively. The aim of this study was to determine if esotropia or exotropia and the eye (side) in which strabismus is present are perceived differently.

Strabismus and discrimination in children: are children with strabismus invited to fewer birthday parties?

Aim: To determine the social acceptance of children with strabismus by their peers and to determine the age at which the negative impact of strabismus on psychosocial interactions emerges.

Methods: Photographs of six children were digitally altered in order to create pictures of identical twins except for the position of the eyes (orthotropic, exotropic and exotropic) and the colour of the shirt. One hundred and eighteen children aged 3-12 years were asked to select, for each of the six twin pairs, one of the twins to invite to their birthday party.

Opinion of headhunters about the ability of strabismic subjects to obtain employment.

Background: Through the opinion of Swiss headhunters, we wanted to determine the influence of strabismus on the ability to obtain employment.

Methods: Out of 31 randomly selected Swiss headhunters, 20 could be interviewed using a validated questionnaire.

Results: Forty-seven percent of the headhunters judged that strabismic subjects have more difficulties in obtaining a job.