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Amblyopia, or Lazy eye, is a general condition where one eye is weaker than the other. Amblyopia causes the stronger eye to compensate for the weaker eye which often leads the brain to disregard the image the lazy eye sees. If amblyopia is corrected when the child is under the age of 10, the weaker eye can become stronger and reduce degeneration. Even though the best result is achieved if treatment is started before age 5.
The problem is caused by either no transmission or poor transmission of the visual image to the brain for a sustained period of dysfunction or during early childhood.
Amblyopia is a birth defect that causes an opacification of the lens. Even though it may not be identified until later in life, if it isn't detected in the infancy stage, then permanent visual loss is possible. The most common causes for this condition are intrauterine infections, metabolic disorders and genetically transmitted.
Treatments for Amblyopia
Treatment of strabismus or anisometropic amblyopia consists of correcting the optical arrears and forcing use of the amblyopic eye, either by patching the good eye, or by instilling topical atropine in the eye with better vision.
One should also be wary of over-patching or over-penalizing the good eye when treating for amblyopia, as this can create so-called "reverse amblyopia" in the other eye.
Deprivation amblyopia is treated by removing the opacity as soon as possible followed by patching or penalizing the good eye to encourage use of the amblyopic eye.
Eye patching therapy can help improve eyesight if you or your child has been diagnosed with amblyopia or lazy eye by an eye doctor. The key is consistency and daily patching therapy. Patching should be done for 3 to 4 hours every day.
Strabismic amblyopia is treated by clarifying the visual image with glasses, and/or encouraging use of the amblyopic eye with a eye patch over the dominant eye or pharmacologic penalization of it (regularly by applying atropine drops to temporarily paralyze the muscles and weaken vision in the good eye—this helps to prevent the bullying and teasing associated with wearing a patch). The ocular alignment itself may be treated with surgical or non-surgical methods, depending on the type and severity of the strabismus.
Surgery attempts to support the eyes by shortening, lengthening, or changing the position of one or more of the extra ocular eye muscles and is regularly the only way to achieve cosmetic improvement. Glasses affect the position by changing the person's reaction to focusing. Prisms change the light way and therefore images strike the eye, simulating a change in the eye position.
Early treatment of strabismus and/or amblyopia in infancy can decrease the possibility of developing amblyopia and depth perception problems. Eyes that remain misaligned can still develop visual problems. Although not a cure for strabismus, prism lenses can also be used to give some comfort for sufferers and to prevent double vision from occurring.
Pure refractive amblyopia is treated by correcting the refractive error early with prescription lenses. Vision therapy and/or eye patching can also be used to develop and improve visual abilities, binocular vision, depth perception, etc.
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