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How to treat intermittent exotropia?

This Premium Q&A, reviewed and published, features a real conversation between an iCliniq user and a physician.

Patient's Query

Hi Doctor,

My brother is 16 years old. He has intermittent exotropia from childhood. It goes out frequently. Is there any way to cure it?

Answered by Dr. Asif Manzoor

Education:

MBBS

Professional Bio:

Dr. Asif Manzoor is a skilled ophthalmologist dedicated to preserving and improving eye health. He provides expert care for a range of conditions, including vision correction, cataracts, and ocular diseases, combining advanced techniques with personalized treatment to enhance patients’ quality of life.      

This doctor is not available for online consultations on the platform anymore.

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Intermittent exotropia is common in young people. One or both eyes go outward on and off commonly when they are inattentive, under stress or illness. But, if they got good fusion, then they keep their eyes straight by focusing on the target and can control exotropia. Intermittent exotropia can go as it is or can improve or sometimes, it decompensates with time and becomes permanent or constant exotropia. In early cases, orthoptic exercises can be helpful to enhance convergence of muscles like pencil tip exercise. The most important thing is to check refractive error correction. Your brother is now 16, but in young age, refraction is necessary to avoid amblyopia. In your brother's case, you have to decide how frequent your brother is having this problem. Usually for intermittent exotropia, surgery is not preferred until you can control your eyes. But, if it decompensates and becomes permanent or you feel fatigued, then you can get squint surgery. Squint surgery got good results. So, I would recommend you to go to your eye doctor and discuss all these and then decide what you want. He will do the best.

Thank You

Medically reviewed by iCliniq medical review team
Published At October 20, 2017
Reviewed At March 30, 2026

Education:

MBBS

Professional Bio:

Dr. Asif Manzoor is a skilled ophthalmologist dedicated to preserving and improving eye health. He provides expert care for a range of conditions, including vision correction, cataracts, and ocular diseases, combining advanced techniques with personalized treatment to enhance patients’ quality of life.      

This doctor is not available for online consultations on the platform anymore.

Same symptoms don't mean you have the same problem. Consult a doctor now!

Education:

MBBS

Professional Bio:

Dr. Asif Manzoor is a skilled ophthalmologist dedicated to preserving and improving eye health. He provides expert care for a range of conditions, including vision correction, cataracts, and ocular diseases, combining advanced techniques with personalized treatment to enhance patients’ quality of life.      

This doctor is not available for online consultations on the platform anymore.

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