Amblyopia

Age Related Macular Degeneration	Astigmatism	Cataracts	Contact Lenses
Convergence Problems	Diabetes	Vision and Driving	Regular Eye Examinations
Floaters & Spots	Glaucoma	Hyperopia	Keratoconus
Lazy Eye	Myopia	Parents Guide to Children's Vision	Patient Rights
Presbyopia	Pterygium	Vision & School Achievement	Vision and Computers
TV and Vision	UV Light	Find your Nearest Optometrist	Children's Vision Campaign


Amblyopia Q. What is amblyopia? A. A person with amblyopia, or 'lazy eye', has a condition in which the message sent from the affected eye or eyes to the brain is of low quality, making the sight of that eye poor. Sometimes the phrase 'dimness of vision' is used to describe amblyopia. A person with amblyopia will have poor vision which cannot be simply corrected with spectacles. Q. What causes lazy eye? A. Amblyopia has many different causes. Generally, if a person cannot use both eyes together, amblyopia will result in one eye. Common causes of this are a turned eye or a large difference in the extent of shortsightedness, longsightedness or astigmatism (refractive error) between the person's eyes. Rare causes of amblyopia can include disease or injury to the nerve connecting the eye to the brain, some psychiatric conditions and excessive use of tobacco, alcohol or other drugs. Q. How do these factors lead to amblyopia? A. Normally the message sent to the brain from both eyes is the same. In the patient with amblyopia, the message received by the brain from one eye is weaker than the message from the other eye. The brain compensates for the imbalance by ignoring the message from the lazy eye. The affected eye tends to be used less and further weakening of the eye results. Although the basic components of the visual system are present at birth, a child's visual system continues to develop after birth in response to his or her visual environment. This development progresses rapidly in the first few years of life and continues until at least the age of seven years. If a child's visual system is not properly stimulated during these early years, lack of development may result in a permanent or long-term problem. Q. How common is amblyopia? A. Up to four per cent of the population have amblyopia. Q. How can I tell if my child has amblyopia? A. The most important sign is poor vision, but because only one eye is affected and the other eye usually does the work of both, parents often are unaware of the problem. Other clues are a noticeable favouring of one eye, a 'turned' eye and bumping into objects on one side of the body. A proper eye examination is the only sure way of finding out if your child has amblyopia. If you think that there may be something wrong with your child's vision, talk to your optometrist. Q. How is amblyopia treated? A. The treatment depends on the particular cause of the amblyopia. Most commonly glasses, prisms, contact lenses and vision therapy programs are used to train the poor eye to function normally. Sometimes the better eye is covered with a patch to force the person to use and strengthen the lazy eye. Some special or rare types of amblyopia are treated simply by improving the person's general health. The earlier amblyopia is detected, the easier it is to treat.

Amblyopia

Q. What is amblyopia?
A. A person with amblyopia, or 'lazy eye', has a condition in which the message sent from the affected eye or eyes to the brain is of low quality, making the sight of that eye poor. Sometimes the phrase 'dimness of vision' is used to describe amblyopia. A person with amblyopia will have poor vision which cannot be simply corrected with spectacles.

Q. What causes lazy eye?
A. Amblyopia has many different causes. Generally, if a person cannot use both eyes together, amblyopia will result in one eye. Common causes of this are a turned eye or a large difference in the extent of shortsightedness, longsightedness or astigmatism (refractive error) between the person's eyes. Rare causes of amblyopia can include disease or injury to the nerve connecting the eye to the brain, some psychiatric conditions and excessive use of tobacco, alcohol or other drugs.

Q. How do these factors lead to amblyopia?
A. Normally the message sent to the brain from both eyes is the same. In the patient with amblyopia, the message received by the brain from one eye is weaker than the message from the other eye. The brain compensates for the imbalance by ignoring the message from the lazy eye. The affected eye tends to be used less and further weakening of the eye results. Although the basic components of the visual system are present at birth, a child's visual system continues to develop after birth in response to his or her visual environment. This development progresses rapidly in the first few years of life and continues until at least the age of seven years. If a child's visual system is not properly stimulated during these early years, lack of development may result in a permanent or long-term problem.

Q. How common is amblyopia?
A. Up to four per cent of the population have amblyopia.

Q. How can I tell if my child has amblyopia?
A. The most important sign is poor vision, but because only one eye is affected and the other eye usually does the work of both, parents often are unaware of the problem. Other clues are a noticeable favouring of one eye, a 'turned' eye and bumping into objects on one side of the body. A proper eye examination is the only sure way of finding out if your child has amblyopia. If you think that there may be something wrong with your child's vision, talk to your optometrist.

Q. How is amblyopia treated?
A. The treatment depends on the particular cause of the amblyopia. Most commonly glasses, prisms, contact lenses and vision therapy programs are used to train the poor eye to function normally. Sometimes the better eye is covered with a patch to force the person to use and strengthen the lazy eye. Some special or rare types of amblyopia are treated simply by improving the person's general health. The earlier amblyopia is detected, the easier it is to treat.