Amblyopia, commonly known as “lazy eye,” is a vision disorder that typically develops in childhood. It occurs when one eye does not develop normal vision, leading to reduced visual acuity in the affected eye. This condition affects around 2-3% of children globally.
What is a lazy eye (amblyopia)?
Also known as amblyopia, the medical term for lazy eye, amblyopia is a childhood disorder in which one eye is weaker. When the brain picks up images from the stronger eye, it ignores images and information coming from the weaker, lazy eye.
This means that in the case of amblyopia, the child uses the strong eye more than the weak, lazy eye; if the weak, lazy eye does not work, it is unable to develop good vision, resulting in amblyopia and low vision, in which the eye fails to develop normal visual acuity visually impaired even with glasses or contact lenses. Ifand is
Amblyopia usually affects only one eye, but in some cases, amblyopia can occur in both eyes. Amblyopia starts as early as birth and around seven years of age, and your child may not even know they are using only one eye as ignoring images from the weaker eye is an automatic response of the brain that your child has no control over. It can start last until. Your brain response
Fortunately, there are treatments for the underlying causes of amblyopia. If detected and treated early, poor vision from a lazy eye can be avoided. Early treatment can often reverse amblyopia, especially when it begins at a young age when your child is more likely to have good vision. However, untreated, lazy eyes can cause permanent vision loss.
Optometrists and optometrists estimate that globally, the incidence of amblyopia is about 2-3% of the population.
Symptoms of lazy eye (amblyopia)
In most cases, amblyopia does not cause symptoms, and the symptoms can sometimes be difficult to detect. Here are some of the easiest ways to determine if your child has lazy eye or amblyopia.
- His eyes don’t move in the same direction, or he can’t fix them in the same direction or target. Eye movement misalignment is a condition called strabismus. In the case of misalignment, make an appointment with an ophthalmologist or pediatric ophthalmologist.
- If your child is crying or complaining when one eye is covered, you can try this test at home by simply covering your child’s eyes and exposing them (one eye at a time) when performing a visual task. If your child is not bothered when one eye is covered, this may indicate that the eye you covered is the “lazy” eye, but when the exposed eye is the lazy one, it will lead to blurred vision.
- Tilts the head to look at something
- Upper eyelid drooping
- To have one eye wandering and moving and the other eye not moving.
- Poor depth perception and third-dimensionality
- The child’s eyes do not move in the same direction when the child tries to focus on a specific point.
A simple screening test is not a substitute for a comprehensive eye exam to diagnose amblyopia. It is recommended to schedule your child’s first eye exam at or around 6 months of age to ensure that vision is developing normally and that the eyes are working together properly.
What causes lazy eye (amblyopia)?
Any condition that prevents your child’s eyes from forming a clear, focused image or prevents your child from seeing a clear, identical image of one or both eyes can cause amblyopia.
Amblyopia may result when:
- The eyes do not focus on the same object, and this is called strabismus
- For example, one eye may look straight ahead while the other looks inward (towards the nose), which sends two different images to the brain in a child with strabismus, as the brain chooses to receive images from only one eye. Strabismus is the most common cause of lazy eye. To avoid double vision caused by poor eye alignment, the brain will ignore the visual input from the deviated eye, resulting in the deviated eye not developing visual ability and developing amblyopia (“lazy eye”). This type of amblyopia is called strabismus.
Refractive Strabismus of the Eyes
Sometimes amblyopia causes unequal refractive errors in the two eyes despite good eye alignment. For example, one eye may have significant nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism, while the other eye does not.
In such cases, the brain relies on the eye with the lower uncorrected refractive error and “ignores” the distorted vision from the other eye, causing amblyopia in that eye due to lack of use; thistype of lazy eye is called refractive strabismus (or anisometropic strabismus).
About deprivation
This type of amblyopia is caused by an organic defect that prevents light from entering the child’s eye. An issue in the back of the eye (congenital cataracts ) or in the front (cornea) may cause amblyopia because it interferes with light transmission to the brain.
Prompt treatment with surgery is necessary to allow normal visual development and prevent visual impairment due to amblyopia.
These types of issues are rare but serious. Without early treatment, your child may never develop normal vision in the affected eye. Your child may be more likely to develop strabismus if someone else in your family has had it or if your child was born prematurely or had a low birth weight.
How is amblyopia diagnosed?
If the examination shows that your child has poor vision in one eye, the doctor may diagnose amblyopia after ruling out other causes. To help diagnose, the doctor will ask about symptoms, any family members with vision issues, other possible risk factors such as low birth weight, and whether your child has difficulty reading, seeing the blackboard at school, or watching TV.
Doctors recommend that children have regular eye exams and vision tests to look for amblyopia, which can also be done at an optometrist’s office. If you have concerns about your child’s eyes or vision, contact your pediatrician or take them to an ophthalmologist.
How is amblyopia treated?
To treat amblyopia, your child should use the weaker eye, which forces the brain to strengthen the lazy eye. Over time, this will correct the vision in the lazy eye.
Your doctor may suggest the following:
- Covering the strong eye with an eye patch
- Blocking the strong eye’s vision with eye drops or glasses
Your child may need to wear the patch or glasses for most of the day or only part of each day. Treatment may last a few weeks or months, with severe cases taking longer.
If there are other disorders causing amblyopia, such as cataracts, they should also be treated.
Treatment is best started before the age of 6, ideally before your child’s vision is fully developed, around the age of 9 or 10. Later treatment for amblyopia is likely to be less effective but may improve vision in some cases. A child with amblyopia who doesn’t receive treatment may have poor vision for life.
After your amblyopia treatment is over, be sure to have regular follow-up eye exams. Amblyopia can return even after successful amblyopia treatment.
Pediatric amblyopia revision methods have evolved to offer a wide range of solutions, depending on the severity of the condition and the preferences of the patient as well as their parents.and
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Corrective lenses and glasses for amblyopia
In cases of refractive strabismus (amblyopia due to unequal refractive powers between the eyes), normal vision can be achieved by simply correcting the refractive error in both eyes with glasses or contact lenses.
However, a patch is usually needed for at least the “good” eye to stimulate the brain to focus on the information from the “lazy” eye, enabling normal vision development in that eye.
Strabismus surgery to correct lazy eye in Turkey
Treatment for amblyopia due to strabismus (lazy eye caused by misaligned eyes) often involves strabismus surgery to align the eyes. This is followed by the use of an eye patch on the dominant eye and vision improvement exercises (specific exercises for the lazy eye) to help the two eyes work together as a team. It may be necessary to wear the eye patch for several hours each day, or even all day for several days or weeks, to force the brain to start using the lazy eye normally.
In many cases of strabismus, surgery is required to properly align the eyes before eye grafting, using atropine and/or lazy eye exercises. “Lazy eye surgery” is an incorrect term. The correct term for surgical eye correction is “strabismus surgery.”
Sometimes, more than one strabismus surgery is needed to achieve proper eye alignment. Additionally, special glasses with prismatic lenses may still be required after strabismus surgery to enable the eyes to work together as a team and ensure the effectiveness of lazy eye (amblyopia) treatment.
Contact lenses for amblyopia
If you’re having trouble getting your child’s eye patch to come off, you might consider using a specially designed contact lens that prevents light from entering the good eye and doesn’t affect your child’s appearance.
Although artificial contact lenses are more expensive than an eye patch and require contact lens examination and fitting, they can work wonders in difficult cases of amblyopia treatment when adherence to an eye patch is poor.
Using atropine drops to treat amblyopia
In some children, atropine drops have been used successfully to treat lazy eyes. One drop is placed in your child’s healthy eye every day. Your ophthalmologist will give you instructions on how to do this. Atropine blurs the near vision in the healthy eye, forcing your child to use the amblyopic eye more, thus strengthening the “lazy” eye without having to wear an eye patch on the healthy eye. One of the advantages of using atropine drops to treat lazy eyes is that it doesn’t require constant vigilance to make sure your child is wearing their eye patch.
In a study of 419 children under 7 with lazy eye (amblyopia), atropine treatment produced similar results to the eye patch. However, atropine has side effects – including light sensitivity and difficulty and impairment in seeing nearby objects clearly while using the drops.
Sources:
- NIH
- American Optometric Assciation
- Johns Hopkins Medicine
