Lazy Eye, Amblyopia

Lazy eye or amblyopia is a condition of reduced vision in an eye usually unilateral. Mainly caused by disturbed visual development early in life. The affected eye often wanders inward or outward. This condition usually develops early in life upto 7 years of age. It is the most prevalent cause of reduced vision in children.

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of lazy eye include:

Inward or outward displaced eye
Eye don’t work together
Tilting of head
Poor depth perception
Abnormal visual screening test results
Sometimes amblyopia is not evident without eye examination.
Squinting of an eye

Causes

This condition occur early in life because of impaired development of visual pathway from retina to the brain. This leads to the weak signals to an affected eye and ultimately reduced function. Common causes of this condition include:

Imbalance of extraocular muscles
Refractive errors of eye or astigmatism
Deprivation amblyopia due to problem in one eye such as cataract which leads to reduce vision in that eye.

Complications

Major complication of lazy eye is that if it’s left untreated it can lead to permanent vision loss.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of lazy eye is done by detailed medical history and general physical examination of the patient. Along with this ocular examination; for eye health, eye movements, wandering of eye, refractive errors. Eye drops are given before performing eye examination as it dilates the pupil for examination. Some tests for refractive error are through picture chart. In preverbal children a lighted magnifying device can be used to detect cataracts.

Treatment

Treatment options include:

Using corrective eyewear.
Eye patches to stimulate weaker eye
Bangerter filter placed on the eyeglass lens of stronger eye.
Eye drops such as atropine on stronger eye which weakens it’s vision and stimulate weaker eye.
Sometimes surgery is needed if child has dropping eye lid because of cataract or other underlying condition.
Activity-based-treatment such as with drawing etc.

Lazy Eye, Amblyopia