Amblyopia (Lazy Eye)

Amblyopia, commonly known as “lazy eye,” is a vision disorder that affects sight development in one eye. Treating amblyopia as soon as possible is essential to ensure proper visual development and maintain healthy eyesight.

What is Amblyopia?

Amblyopia occurs in one in 50 children. This disorder, commonly known as ‘lazy eye,’ is a loss of vision caused by the child’s brain turning off visual development. Amblyopia can result from misalignment of the eyes, the need for glasses, or cataracts that block light rays from entering the eye.

Early treatment can improve vision depending on the type and cause of amblyopia. Patching the good eye, forcing the brain to use the bad eye, and glasses are the most common treatments for this condition.

What Causes Amblyopia?

Amblyopia can be caused by several factors that interfere with the normal development of vision in one eye. The most common causes include:

1. Strabismus: When one eye is turned in a different direction than the other, the brain may start to favor the straight eye, ignoring signals from the misaligned one.
2. Refractive errors: Significant differences in prescription strength between the two eyes can cause the brain to rely on the stronger eye.
3. Deprivation: Conditions such as congenital cataracts or other eye problems that obstruct vision in one eye can prevent proper visual input from reaching the brain.

Lazy Eye Treatments

Vision Therapy / Orthoptic Therapy

Does your child suffer from eyestrain, headaches, or double vision? Does he/she avoid near work or struggle with learning and reading? You or your child’s vision problems may not be solved with glasses.

The problem may lie in how your eyes work together, and if so, vision therapy may be the answer you’ve been looking for! Vision therapy is most successful in correcting convergence insufficiency, in which the eyes have difficulty “crossing” to see a near target. All patients with reading problems should have a comprehensive eye exam to check for this condition and other problems with eye misalignments.

The Process of Vision Therapy

Vision therapy involves teaching various exercises to improve the brain’s ability to align the eyes while increasing the brain’s ability to focus the eyes.

The exercises stimulate our visual pathway’s binocular and accommodative systems to work harder and overcome the focusing issues that can cause discomfort.

Vision therapy is similar to physical therapy in that it uses the brain’s natural reflexes to strengthen the coordination between the brain and eyes, allowing them to function better together.

Vision therapy and eye muscle exercises can be very effective at treating symptoms. The exercises our doctors create for your specific plan are completed over a few months. Many patients notice fewer symptoms in less than three months and can enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle after only a few training sessions.

Luminopia

Luminopia is the first FDA-approved* binocular therapy for amblyopia. With Luminopia, patients can choose from over 700+ hours of popular 2-dimensional TV shows and movies to watch within a commercially available virtual reality (VR) headset.

Software algorithms take the content, modify it in real-time, and present it differently to each eye to rebalance the input to the brain. This has been shown to improve vision over time in patients with amblyopia. For more information about Luminopia, please see your provider.

Schedule an Appointment

If you suspect that your child or yourself may be experiencing symptoms of amblyopia, don’t wait to seek help. At Total Eye Care, our team of experienced professionals is ready to evaluate, diagnose, and treat amblyopia using the latest techniques and treatments; contact us for more information.

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