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Amblyopia/Lazy Eye

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Amblyopia occurs when there is a lack of vision in one eye because the eye and the brain are not working together. Amblyopia is an early childhood condition that develops because of abnormal visual experience that changes the nerve pathways between the retina and the brain

 when an individual has Amblyopia the brain focuses on one eye than the other 

The weaker eye receives fewer visual signals and  eventually the ability of the eyes to work together decreases and the brain ignores the visual input from the weaker eye

If the eye is not stimulated properly the nerve cell responsible for vision fails to mature in childhood when the eye is in a growing phase.

 Amblyopia normally only affects one eye, the affected eye  appears normal but suffers from a decreased vision

It is the most common cause of decreased uniocular vision in children. In rare cases, reduced visual acuity can occur in both eyes. Reduced vision can be avoided if amblyopia is detected early in life and promptly treated.

 If left untreated the condition can cause severe visual disability in the affected eye including legal blindness.



Causes

 During the critical period ie., from birth to 6 years of age,  it is important that both eyes form a clear image, anything that interferes with or obstructs vision in either eye during this period has the potential to cause the condition, this is because this is the child's developmental stage, the eyes also develop like the other parts of the body.


Some common causes of amblyopia are:

  1. Strabismus-Due to the imbalance of the eye muscles the eye has a tendency to turn in or turn out making it difficult for both eyes to fixate on an object together, amblyopia due to this cause is termed as strabismus  amblyopia 

Anisometropia


  1. Refractive anisometropia-  amblyopia is sometimes caused by the unequal refractive error between the two eyes for example one May suffer from uncorrected moderate nearsightedness, foresightedness for astigmatism and the other may not. In such cases, the brain relies on the eye with less refractive error and ignores the other eye with significant refractive error due to the difference in image clarity formed by the two eyes the eye which provides the brain with a clear image becomes the dominant eye. Amblyopia due to this cause is termed refractive amblyopia

Stimulus Deprivation due to  Congenital corneal haze

  1. Stimulus deprivation- there are many congenital pathologies namely coloboma, congenital cataract, congenital corneal opacity, etc where the eye doesn't receive any /negligible light stimulus thereby hampering the process of development in that particular eye resulting in a low or nil vision in that eye. amblyopia due to this cause is termed as stimulus deprivation amblyopia


.

Some factors that increase the risk of Amblyopia in childhood are:

  • Premature birth

  •  A family history of Lazy eye

  •  Developmental disabilities


Symptoms 

  • The child will have poor depth perception due to the fact the phenomenon of stereopsis is absent as it is only possible during binocularity as the child shall be fixating monocularly,  he/she Will have poor depth perception.

  • An eye that turns either upward, downward outward, or inward indicates that the eyes are not functioning together

  • The child is having difficulty in learning, focusing

  •  Any childhood eye  pathology that involves a decrease in vision



Most importantly early eyes check-up is very important to rule out various conditions that may hamper your child's vision during its most vital developmental stage, so visit your nearest Eye Care practitioner And get your wards eyes checked up.



With early diagnosis and treatment, improved sight  in Lazy eye  can be accomplished

 Some treatments are:


                  

  • Eye patching-Involves patching or covering the dominant eye  thus forcing the weak  eye to work harder and increase its ability to focus


  • Eye drops- An eye drop of a medication called Atropine may be used as per your practitioner's decision, this can cause temporary Blurred vision in the dominant eye and will encourage the child to use the weaker eye. this is an alternative To eye patching

 

  • Corrective Glasses- To correct the image blur caused due to refractive error and thereby promoting binocularity.


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