What is Lazy Eye? Can amblyopia be fixed?

New Delhi, Sep 05: Amblyopia (or lazy eye) is the most common cause of vision loss among children. It affects 2 to 3 out of 100 children. If it is not treated timely and properly, it can stay through adulthood. It is a very common cause of vision loss in one eye among children and young adults.

Amblyopia generally develops from birth up to age 7 years. It is the leading cause of decreased vision among children. Rarely, lazy eye affects both eyes.

Symptoms of amblyopia

• Kids with amblyopia may have poor depth perception - they have trouble telling how near or far something is.
• Some of the other symtoms are:
• Squinting
• Shutting 1 eye
• Tilting their head
• In many cases, parents don't know their child has amblyopia until a doctor diagnoses it during an eye exam.

Causes:

1. Refractive errors
2. Strabismus or squint in the eye
3. Media opacities in the eye like corneal opacity or cataracts
4. Drooping eyelid or ptosis

Treatment for amblyopia
If there's a vision problem causing amblyopia, the doctor may treat that first. The next step is to re-train the brain and force it to use the weaker eye.

Treatments include:

• Wearing an eye patch on the stronger eye. By covering up this eye with a stick-on eye patch (similar to a Band-Aid), the brain has to use the weaker eye to see.
• Putting special eye drops in the stronger eye.
• After your child starts treatment, their vision may start to get better within a few weeks. But it will probably take months to get the best results.
• It's important to start treating children with amblyopia early - the sooner the better.

Can lazy eye be fixed?
Glasses or contact lenses can correct problems such as nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism that result in lazy eye.

What causes sudden lazy eye in adults?
Most commonly, ocular misalignment in adults is due to stroke, but it can also occur from physical trauma or from a childhood strabismus that was not previously treated or has recurred or progressed.