10 Things to Know About Lazy Eye
1. The medical term for lazy eye is Amblyopia.
2. Amblyopia is a healthy eye that does not see well. Intrinsic eye disorders (cataract, corneal scarring, etc.) can worsen amblyopia.
3. Amblyopia always begins in childhood, usually before age 3.
4. Don't blame the eyes! The brain decides whether or not an eye becomes amblyopic. Remember, the eye is healthy!
5. When a conflict exists the brain is forced to make a choice between processing visual information from the better of the two eyes.
6. Visual conflicts include crooked eyes (strabismus), blockage of the normal visual pathway (as in a dense infantile cataract), or a marked difference in the refractive power of the two eyes (as an example: one eye nearsighted and the other farsighted).
7. A child can have a densely amblyopic eye and not complain.
8. Visual penalization of the better eye is the recommended treatment for lazy eye. Methods include patching the better eye or administration of atropine ointment to blur the better eye so as to force the lazy eye back to work. A specific treatment schedule is customized for each child's needs.
9. Parents of amblyopic children need to be very aggressive towards enforcing amblyopia treatment. The eye doctor educates and encourages. It is a daily parental responsibility that cannot be neglected. The earlier treatment is started the better the chances for good visual recovery.
10. Beyond age 7 (and certainly after age 11) the chances of significant reversal of lazy eye are very poor. By then the brain's circuitry has reached maturation. No matter how many times treatment fails, start again and commit to do the best job possible. A lifetime of good eyesight hangs in the balance!
Related Topics: Never Too Late to Treat Kids with Lazy Eye, Vision Exams for Infants and Children
Technorati Tags: lazyeye, amblyopia, eyepatch,
2. Amblyopia is a healthy eye that does not see well. Intrinsic eye disorders (cataract, corneal scarring, etc.) can worsen amblyopia.
3. Amblyopia always begins in childhood, usually before age 3.
4. Don't blame the eyes! The brain decides whether or not an eye becomes amblyopic. Remember, the eye is healthy!
5. When a conflict exists the brain is forced to make a choice between processing visual information from the better of the two eyes.
6. Visual conflicts include crooked eyes (strabismus), blockage of the normal visual pathway (as in a dense infantile cataract), or a marked difference in the refractive power of the two eyes (as an example: one eye nearsighted and the other farsighted).
7. A child can have a densely amblyopic eye and not complain.
8. Visual penalization of the better eye is the recommended treatment for lazy eye. Methods include patching the better eye or administration of atropine ointment to blur the better eye so as to force the lazy eye back to work. A specific treatment schedule is customized for each child's needs.
9. Parents of amblyopic children need to be very aggressive towards enforcing amblyopia treatment. The eye doctor educates and encourages. It is a daily parental responsibility that cannot be neglected. The earlier treatment is started the better the chances for good visual recovery.
10. Beyond age 7 (and certainly after age 11) the chances of significant reversal of lazy eye are very poor. By then the brain's circuitry has reached maturation. No matter how many times treatment fails, start again and commit to do the best job possible. A lifetime of good eyesight hangs in the balance!
Related Topics: Never Too Late to Treat Kids with Lazy Eye, Vision Exams for Infants and Children
Technorati Tags: lazyeye, amblyopia, eyepatch,
18 Comments:
DR. I was wondering if you could recommend a good doctor in california. My daughter is 4 and was born with a lazy eye. I have cocerns about future vision problems as well as fear from some a few doctors diagnosis'. Help. Keisha
Keisha,
Our doctors can't give doctor referrals, but you are welcome to use our Find A Doctor tool to get some names.
Good luck to you and your daughter!
I have had "lazy eyes" all my life. Mostly noticeable in pictures around age 3 or so. My Sisters and Father also had this problem. We have all been treated with glasses. None of us have had any success. I see fine out of both eyes individually and have trained them to a certain point to see together but I still have to read with one eye (doesn't matter which) and have fairly good vision. But I get headaches after I am off work and can rest one eye without the self esteem issues. When I rest one eye it is completely drifted out to the side of my eye socket. Same for the other. I don't really think one is dominant than the other but the headaches are getting worse. I would love to do something about this. Is surgery still possible. I'm 25 and have read that after a certain age my brain has "become stuck in it's ways". What should I do?
I'm 19 and I was diagnosed with lazy eye when i was 6. Could Laser surgery be an option for me?
I used to have what I would call perfect eyes, and that was until I had someone hit me upside my head with a 2x4 and now, when I look at pictures, I've noticed that the eye that is below where I was hit, seems to be drifting away as if it is looking at something else... is there something that I can do to fix that? thank you... Kristin
I was treated for this problem as a child. It was corrected by the age of 15. I am now 33yrs old and have been told this last month that the problem is starting to happen again. I have been doing the patch again, will this be able to corrected again?
I was wondering if it is possible for a mother with a lazy eye to have a child born with the same problem as well. My daughter looks like she has it and I wanted to know if lazy eye is a genetic thing or can be passed to children through genetics.
For those of you with questions about your specific situations, please visit Dr. Lloyd's Eye and Vision Disorders message board.
I have had lazy eyes (Both) since birth. One was corrected. For many years I have been told they could not fix my left eye. Just recently I found a doctor that was able to do so at my 'old' age of 37. Now, my eyes look the best they ever have and I am going in for my second surgery for my left eye and this should do it. The name of the clinic: Kellogg Insititue (University of Michigan) TOP NOTCH!. Dr. Archer or Dr. Delmonte they see both kids and adults. My life has dramtically improved along with the first time in my life I have periphal vison along with depth.
i have lazy eye in my right eye ok. but before i turnd to a teen my eyes were fine. now im 18 N its realli effecting my life. i lost my girl my job, now idk wat to do. no one wants to hire me lookN like this. it hurts so much. can lasik eye surgury fix this?? plz let me noe asap i need to fix this before i step in the real world.
my neice is 10 months old and
has a lazy eye, is there anything that can be done now for her or is she to young?
DR my daughter had surgery for lazy eye when she was 10 months old.Her vision is poor.20/70 with glasses. Her eyes are lining up good but its her vision now.I took her for an eye exam and they told me that new glasses wouldnt help her.They are sending her to the DR that did her surgery. Is there a posibility they can help her?
Thank you,
To those of you asking questions about your specific situation:
Please visit Dr. Lloyd's message board and post your questions there.
Thanks so much!
I took my 17 month old son to the dr today. I had a question regarding his left eye. From time to time it doesn't look straight with the right one. He said he was "getting ready to say something" and recommended an eye dr saying he had lazy eye. My husband and I are obviously concerned but also wondering how he could diagnose such a problem when he didn't do any eye tests. The dr set up and eye appt for us. Do you have any suggestions? Are there any long term problems that could arise if we should choose not to do anything? Please help.
Hi...i just went to get my eys check...probably the second time my whole life. and was told i had lazy eye... i guess i stil dont understand what exactly is the problem. Besides getting headaches... i seem to see fine... where can i found out more info.
i have lazy eye 17 years old . i cant look people stright in the eye for a long period of time becasue i dont want them to notice it also when there is a picture of me i can always notice it and i hate it. it effects my social life because i cant look at people in the eye for a long time. i want to fix it dont really want sergury but will do it if needed
yeah well i have a lazy eye and its kinda embarrassing . do you have any suggestions on to how to solve this problem ?
my neighbor says my friends month old baby can get lazy eye from sleeping soo much ! true or fals?
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