Lazy Eye, Amblyopia & Strabismus?
Understanding the differences between eye misalignment and reduced vision, and how vision therapy can rehabilitate the brain-eye connection.
“Every amblyopic patient deserves an attempt at treatment.”
When someone tells us that they have a lazy eye, we often have to ask more questions to clarify what the individual means.
Most commonly, individuals mean that they either have a strabismus (eye turn inward or outward) also known as a crossed eye or that even with their best glasses, one eye still sees significantly worse than the other eye (amblyopia).
Amblyopia is a disorder of the brain’s ability to use both eyes together as a team. It is an active process due to suppression, or the brain actively ignoring the information coming from one eye.
In addition to poor visual acuity, people with amblyopia are more prone to have difficulties with depth perception, eye movements, reading, and visual decision making while driving.
Strabismus, also known as an “eye turn” or “cross-eye”, is a condition characterized by the improper alignment of the eyes. One eye may look straight ahead, while the other eye turns inward, outward, upward, or downward.
The misalignment means that the eyes may be unable to work together to provide the brain with accurate binocular visual information, resulting in blurry vision, double vision, or overlapping images.
What Is The Best Treatment For CI?
Amblyopia, commonly known as lazy eye, is the eye condition noted by reduced vision not correctable by glasses or contact lenses and is not due to any eye disease.
The brain, for some reason, does not fully acknowledge the images seen by the amblyopic eye. This almost always affects only one eye but may manifest with reduction of vision in both eyes.
It is estimated that three percent of children under six have some form of amblyopia.
A "Lazy Eye" Is Not At All Lazy Or Weak.
A lazy eye is likely to be just as strong as the other eye, but because of impaired binocular vision, the signals from the amblyopic eye to the brain have been turned off.
Causes Of Amblyopia?
Anything that interferes with clear vision in either eye during the critical period (birth to 6 years of age) can cause amblyopia. The most common causes are:
› Constant strabismus (constant turn of one eye)
› Anisometropia (different vision/prescriptions in each eye)
› Blockage of an eye due to cataract, trauma, lid droop, etc.
Amblyopia is a neurologically active process. In other words, the loss of vision takes place in the brain. The brain can inhibit (block, ignore, suppress) the eye with the blur to avoid double vision.
Why Vision Problems Get Misdiagnosed As ADHD
ADHD is a relatively common disorder for kids to suffer from, so when a child presents with typical symptoms, a doctor may be quick to diagnose it as the cause. However, a number of vision disorders have many of the same symptoms as ADHD.
Vision Therapy And Strabismus
The goal of vision therapy is to teach the brain and eyes to work together to correct the eye misalignment and thus achieve clear and comfortable vision.
“It’s been proven that a motivated adult with strabismus and/or amblyopia who works diligently at vision therapy can obtain meaningful improvement in visual function… Every amblyopic patient deserves an attempt at treatment.”