TREATMENT OF LAZY EYE

 

 

TREATMENT OF LAZY EYE

Amblyopia is the medical term used when the vision in one of the eyes is reduced because the eye and the brain are not working together properly. The eye itself looks normal, but it is not being used normally because the brain is favoring the other eye. This condition is also sometimes called lazy eye.

 

Amblyopia is the most common cause of visual impairment among children, affecting approximately 2 to 3 out of every 100 children. Unless it is successfully treated in early childhood, amblyopia usually persists into adulthood. It is also the most common cause of monocular (one eye) visual impairment among children.  

 

Causes:

  • Uncorrected refractive errors: Ametropic Amblyopia

  • Difference between the refractive errors in two eyes: Ansiometropic Amblyopia

  • Squint or deviation of eyes: Strabismic Amblyopia

  • One eye has cataract or retina problem: Sensory or Stimulus deprivation Amblyopia
     

Treatment: 

  • Correcting the underlying cause like glasses for the refractive error, treatment for the Squint and Surgery for cataracts. 

  • Patching: We have to force the child to use the eye with weaker vision by covering the good eye with a Patch. An adhesive patch is worn over the stronger eye for weeks to months.  Patching stimulates vision in the weaker eye and helps parts of the brain involved in vision develop more completely.

  • Previously, eye care professionals thought that treating amblyopia would be of little benefit to older children. However, our experience is that many children from ages seven to 17 years old also benefited from treatment for amblyopia. Hence age alone should not be used as a factor to decide whether or not to treat a child for amblyopia.

  • Penalisation : A drop of a drug called atropine is placed in the stronger eye to temporarily blur vision so that the child will use the eye with amblyopia. This is given in children who are totally non compliant to patching. This works only for moderate Amblyopia and is much less effective than patching but is still better than not doing anything