You might not think about it, but your eyes are constantly working together like a perfectly choreographed dance team. Every time you look at something, six tiny muscles around each eye coordinate their movements
When these muscles don’t work together properly, you can experience double vision, eye strain, headaches, and difficulty with everyday tasks like reading or driving. Understanding how your eye muscles function—and what happens when they don’t—can help you recognize when it’s time to seek professional care through comprehensive eye exams with our team at Discover Eyecare.
What Eye Muscles Do for Your Vision
Six Muscles Control Each Eye
Your eyes move thanks to six extraocular muscles attached to the outside of each eyeball. These muscles work like tiny pulleys, moving your eyes up, down, left, right, and in diagonal directions. Each muscle has a specific job—some handle horizontal movement while others control vertical motion.
Think of these muscles as a team of six workers moving a heavy object. If one worker isn’t pulling their weight, the whole system becomes unbalanced. The same thing happens with your eye muscles when one becomes weak or doesn’t respond properly to nerve signals.
How These Muscles Work Together
When you look at something, your brain sends coordinated signals to all twelve eye muscles (six per eye) simultaneously. For example, when you look to the right, the muscles on the outer side of your right eye and the inner side of your left eye contract at the same time.
This coordination happens automatically without any conscious effort from you. Your brain calculates exactly how much each muscle needs to move so both eyes point at the same target. This process occurs hundreds of times throughout your day as your eyes track moving objects or shift focus from near to far.
When Your Eyes Move in Sync
Proper eye alignment allows your brain to combine the slightly different images from each eye into one clear, three-dimensional picture. This is called binocular vision, and it gives you accurate depth perception, helping you judge distances when you’re driving, playing sports, or walking down stairs.
You also experience comfortable vision without strain or fatigue when your eye muscles work together properly. Your eyes can focus effortlessly on objects at different distances, and you don’t experience headaches from your visual system working overtime to compensate for misalignment.
Signs Your Eye Muscles Aren’t Working Together
What You Might Notice
- Double vision (seeing two images) or images that appear “ghosted”
- Eyes that appear crossed or turned
- Frequent headaches
- Eye strain or fatigue
- Difficulty focusing on objects
- Trouble with depth perception
- Closing one eye to see more clearly
How These Problems Affect Daily Life
Eye muscle problems can make simple tasks frustrating and tiring. You might find yourself losing your place while reading or having to reread the same sentence multiple times. Driving becomes stressful when you can’t judge distances accurately, particularly during parking or merging onto highways.
Children with eye alignment issues often struggle in school because reading requires sustained focus and eye coordination. Adults may also notice increased fatigue at work, particularly if their job involves computer use or detailed visual tasks that can lead to digital eye strain.
Common Eye Alignment Problems
Strabismus: When Eyes Turn
Strabismus occurs when one eye turns inward, outward, upward, or downward, while the other eye looks straight ahead. You might know this condition as “crossed eyes” or “lazy eye,” though these terms don’t capture the full range of turning patterns that can occur.
Eye misalignment can be constant or intermittent, affecting one or both eyes. Some people notice that their eyes turn more when they’re tired, stressed, or focusing on close work. The condition can develop in childhood or appear later in life due to injury or illness.
Diplopia: Double Vision Explained
Double vision happens when your eyes can’t align properly on the same target, causing your brain to receive two different images. You might see images side by side, one above the other, or overlapping at an angle.
Some people experience double vision only when looking in certain directions or at specific distances. Others notice it constantly, which can be disorienting and affect balance. The severity of the issue often depends on how far apart the images appear and whether both eyes are equally affected.
Why These Conditions Develop
Problems with your eye muscles can stem from various causes, including weak or overactive muscles, nerve damage, or structural issues within the eye socket. Some children are born with muscle imbalances, while others develop them as their visual system matures.
In adults, conditions like diabetes, thyroid disease, or stroke can affect the nerves that control the eye muscles. Head injuries, certain medications, or age-related changes can also disrupt the delicate coordination your eyes need to work together. This is why diabetic eye exams are particularly important for monitoring these changes.
Treatment Options for Eye Alignment Issues
Vision Therapy: Exercises for Your Eyes
Vision therapy involves structured exercises designed to improve eye muscle coordination and strengthen weak muscles. These exercises train your brain and eyes to work together more effectively, similar to physical therapy for other parts of your body.
Vision therapy typically involves activities like focusing on moving targets, using special prisms, or practicing eye movements in specific patterns. Many people notice improvements in their symptoms after several weeks of consistent practice with a trained vision therapist.
Prism Glasses: Redirecting Light
Prism lenses bend light before it enters your eyes, which helps align the images your brain receives. This can eliminate double vision and reduce eye strain without requiring surgery or extensive therapy.
Your optometrist can incorporate prisms into your regular prescription glasses or create special prism glasses specifically for your alignment needs. Many people find immediate relief from their symptoms when wearing properly prescribed prism lenses.
Surgical Options
When other treatments aren’t effective, eye muscle surgery can help realign the eyes by adjusting the position or tension of specific muscles. Your optometrist can refer you to a specialized surgeon who focuses on these delicate procedures.
Surgery is often considered for large eye turns, for cases where vision therapy hasn’t provided enough improvement, or when the misalignment significantly affects daily function. Recovery typically involves several weeks of healing followed by possible vision therapy to optimize the surgical results.
Getting Help for Eye Alignment Problems
What Happens During an Eye Exam
During an eye exam, your optometrist checks how your eyes move together using a variety of tests. They also measure how well your eyes converge when looking at near objects and assess your depth perception.
Special instruments can measure the exact degree of misalignment and determine which muscles might be weak or overactive.
Treatment Plans That Work
Every eye alignment problem is different, so treatment plans are customized based on your specific symptoms, lifestyle needs, and the underlying cause of your muscle imbalance. Your optometrist considers factors like your age, occupation, and how the problem affects your daily activities.
Some people experience alignment issues alongside other conditions like lazy eye in adults, which requires a comprehensive approach. Regular follow-up appointments allow the optometrist to monitor your progress and adjust the treatment plan as needed.
You should schedule an eye exam if you notice any signs of double vision, frequent headaches related to visual tasks, or if others comment that your eyes appear misaligned. Children who struggle with reading, lose their place frequently, or cover one eye while doing close work should also be evaluated. Don’t wait for symptoms to worsen, early intervention often leads to more effective treatment outcomes. At Discover Eyecare, our team can assess your eye muscle function and develop a plan to help you achieve comfortable, clear vision.
Contact us today to schedule your comprehensive eye exam, and take the first step toward comfortable eye alignment.
