Clearview Eye and Laser Medical Center

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

What is Lazy Eye?

Lazy Eye is the popular term for amblyopia, which is too large a discrepancy between the dominant eye and the other one. When one eye does most of the work, the brain discounts what comes from the other eye, and it does even less work.

Lazy Eye is a rather inaccurate term because no laziness is involved. When a baby is first learning to focus on things near and far, the eyes need plenty of light so that sharp images will be possible. Without adequate light and enough things in the environment to look at, eye development is impaired.

Amblyopia is not an eye structure problem like myopia, hyperopia, or astigmatism, which are all correctable by LASIK. The eyes may be perfectly fine 20/20 eyes, but the brain/eye connection is impaired. The brain is giving preference to one eye's visual data.

Sometimes amblyopia results from the eyes being crossed, sometimes from one eye being better at focusing than the other. Whatever the exact cause, the end result is that one eye becomes dominant to the point of being the only one used by the brain, and the other one becomes weaker until it is useless. Lazy Eye is often associated with Strabismus, a condition where the eyes are uncoordinated and focus in different directions. (One eye is “turned”.)

Treatment depends on what the cause is. For example:

If the eyes are crossed, surgery on the eye muscles can straighten them.
If the eyes have unequal focusing power, glasses can be prescribed to restore the balance.
An eye patch can be worn over the dominant eye to force the "lazy" eye to function more fully
Eye drops or an ointment can be used to blur vision in the dominant eye and thus force the other eye to work harder

Early detection is crucial for successful treatment. If a child's amblyopia goes uncorrected, binocular vision will not develop. Be sure and have your child's vision checked at an early age.

posted by JennyK at 4:27 PM

0Comments:

“She’s the Surgeon to See”

ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center in San Diego