Amblyopia treatment: the right thing to do it

We will talk about a problem that children suffer from and that is associated with one weaker eye. This medical condition is called amblyopia and although both eyes make images, in case of this condition, the images of the weaker eye are ignored. This leads to the increased use of strong eye, while weaker is underused. A problem such as undeveloped eye may be a result of insufficient use of the weaker eye, which leads to the bad eye vision. This problem mostly affects children who are seven years old and it usually targets only one eye. The automatic response of the brain to ignore the images coming from the weak eye is something the child is unaware of. The results of the treatment of this condition largely depend on the time of the beginning of the treatment, since the problem will be harder to treat if it is detected in later stages. Vision will be returned to normal if treatment is prompt. Lazy eye is another name for this condition

Symptoms

The main symptom of this condition is an eye that doesn't move along with the other eye, or it wonders. This is why this condition is also called lazy eye. We have mentioned how difficult this problem is to detect, but some symptoms can be detected. The most common are dropping upper eyelid, cloudiness located in the eye's black center, tilting or squinting the head sideways, down or up, complaining of covered eye, crying if the eye is covered, eyes not fixed on the same point, and eyes that do not move in the same direction together. No warning signs of this condition will be expressed and the parents cannot detect the vision problems, while child may not mention the problem to the parents.

Treatment

This problem is not present in the eye itself, but, it is a neurologic problem, which means that problem is placed in the brain and not the eye. Children who are having this problem will have blurred vision on one weaker eye, while the other will see just fine. Also, due to the blurred vision of one eye, images coming from this eye will be suppressed by the brain which is trying to compensate. Double vision is another problem that the brain is trying to avoid in these situations. Blurred vision on one eye may develop into the loss of vision, which cannot be cured with corrective surgery, contact lenses or eyeglasses. This very common problem, which attacks 75% of children, is hard to detect even with the standard eye exams, but some special acuity test are very reliable. The best way of eliminating this problem includes therapies with eye training procedures, while wearing eyeglasses will not bring any benefits. They are effective for the children under 17, while those older then this need eye training and other treatment therapies.