Amblyopia is a condition that arises during visual development that can negatively and permanently affect vision. It is commonly referred to as a “lazy eye,” and causes reduced vision in one eye that cannot be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, or surgery. It is important to detect and treat amblyopia as early as possible to reduce the risk of vision complications and promote healthy development of the eyes. Oftentimes, the condition does not have any symptoms, so it is important to have your childrens’ eyes examined even if you do not suspect a problem.
What is Amblyopia and Lazy Eye?
In broad terms, amblyopia refers to a vision disorder in which the connection between one of the eyes and the brain is never fully developed. If this happens in childhood, when the brain is constantly growing and forming new connections, the brain will eventually learn to ignore this “lazy eye,” and that eye will never have the visual potential of its fellow eye. The effects of this eye-brain misconnection can be permanent if not addressed during the developmental period.
Amblyopia can occur for three main reasons. The most common form of amblyopia is called strabismic amblyopia, and is caused by a strabismus, or a misaligned eye. In some children the eye muscles are not properly aligned, which can cause one of the eyes to turn inward or outward. In order to avoid double vision, the brain learns to ignore the visual signal from the misaligned eye, and amblyopia can develop. Refractive amblyopia is a form of the condition in which the refractive error, or the glasses prescription, of the two eyes is significantly different from one another. If one of the eyes is very nearsighted or farsighted while the other eye is relatively normal, the brain will tune out the signal from the worse seeing eye. Finally, there can be deprivation amblyopia. This occurs when the brain is completely deprived of visual information from one of the eyes due to something blocking the light, such as a dense congenital cataract or an eyelid that will not properly open.
Preventing Amblyopia
Because one eye usually retains good vision in amblyopia, your child may be a risk even if they aren’t complaining of vision problems or demonstrating visual difficulties. The American Optometric Associated recommends pediatric eye examinations at 6 months, 3 years, and 5-6 years of age, so that the optometrist can see the child at several points through the vision development period. This developmental period ends around age 7-8, so it is important for any vision problems to be detected before then.
If a risk factor for amblyopia is detected in childhood, your eye doctor can take several different approaches to treat the underlying condition and improve visual outcome. They will prescribe glasses that must be worn full-time, which encourages both eyes to robustly communicate with the brain. If an eye turn is present, they may recommend eye patching, in which the “good” or properly aligned eye is covered for a period of time each day in order to force the brain to communicate with the worse eye. They may also recommend vision therapy or other vision exercises.
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