Live Life Team
This condition is usually seen in small children, where the vision does not develop correctly. When light rays enter the eyes it forms an image on the retina, the retina in turn sends this information to the brain and the brain recognises the object. In the early years it is important for the child to see clear images that are sent to the brain for recognition, if there is trouble in this development it leads to impaired vision.
SYMPTOMS
If one of the eye is affected, the other eye will make up for the vision, this can be a disadvantage because the child will not realise that there is a problem until he/she gets the first check up done.
The main symptoms are a blurry or a double vision. Some children also have a droopy eyelid or a noticeable squint or even a cataract. Some times the child will not be able to focus on a particular object.
CAUSES
There are a few eye disorders that cause this condition:
strabismic amblyopia: This is the most common cause for this condition and it can be easily identified because of the squint. The eye that is squint sends the message to the brain but the brain ignores the signal from this eye and considers the signal from the normal eye.
Anisometropic amblyopia: This is the condition caused about by a refractive error due to myopia, hypermetropia and astigmatism. Generally both the eyes are affected to the same degree.
Ametropic amblyopia: This condition is featured by reduction of vision in both the eyes caused due to refractive errors that can not be corrected.
They can become lazy due to eye disease like corneal ulcer or scar, congenital cataract, droopy eye lid and glaucoma.
DIAGNOSIS
This condition has to be treated before the child turns 6, but the problem is with identifying the condition in children as they do not realise it. So, the condition is not identified till the child has its first eye check up. A routine eye check up is advised. Both the eyes are thoroughly checked to see if the child has a squint. The structure of the eyes is also examined to check for abnormalities like astigmatism.
TREATMENT
Two major treatments for this condition are treating or correcting the underlying eye trouble, and the affected eye is corrected so that the vision is corrected.
Children suffering from anisometropia will have good vision only in one eye an the brain generally takes message from the good eye ignoring the other which will otherwise lead to double vision, hence this condition may develop in the eye that is not being used.
Different ways in which the good eye is made to work:
Using a patch: A patch is placed over the good eye; the eye that is affected is made to focus on the object. When the child has the patch on it is advisable to do close up activities.
Eye drop and some times eye surgery can also help restore the vision.
