What Is Amblyopia?
Amblyopia, also known as a “lazy eye”, is reduced vision in an eye that has not received adequate use during early childhood. Amblyopia most often results from either a large difference in the prescription between the eyes or from a misalignment of a child’s eyes (such as crossed eyes); thus, one eye focuses better than the other and becomes the stronger of the two. The weaker eye is often suppressed and if the condition continues untreated, the vision will not develop properly in the weaker eye.
Anything that happens to blur vision in early childhood may cause amblyopia, including strabismus (where an eye is misaligned and turns inward or outward), high refractive error, congenital cataracts, or droopy eyelids. Because of the various causes, the treatment must match the problem. Most commonly, the condition is treated with glasses and/or placing a patch over the better seeing eye for variable time periods daily, forcing the weaker eye to become stronger. This enables restoration of clearer vision in the amblyopic eye. The patch treatment typically ranges from a few weeks to 1-2 years until the vision is normal or near normal. Sometimes surgery is required to remove congenital cataracts or muscles surgery is needed to straighten the eye before the above treatment can begin.
Because the visual pathways in the brain develop while a child is very young, the first few years of life are the most critical for eyesight to develop correctly. The earlier the treatment, the better the opportunity to reverse and prevent vision loss.
Remember, early detection and treatment of amblyopia in children is the only way to ensure proper visual development.
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