Amblyopia Causes

According to the National Eye Institute, amblyopia affects around three out of every 100 children. Doctors can successfully treat amblyopia in young children, otherwise the condition continues as an adult. Amblyopia is the most common reason for children and adults to have monocular visual impairment.

Other Names

• Amblyopia is commonly referred to as "Lazy Eye."

Causes

• Amblyopia results from strabismus, a misalignment of the eyes, such as crossed eyes, or the eyes contain a variation of image quality, such as nearsightedness or farsightedness. Either way, one eye dominants over the other eye.

Treatment

• Doctors may prescribe glasses to improve vision quality or the eye's misalignment. Plus, patients may place atropine, a drug, in the stronger eye to blur the vision for awhile, making the patient use the weaker eye. Alternatively, patients may wear a patch over their stronger eye for weeks or months, forcing the use of the weaker eye.

  An amblyopic eye left untreated may not develop quality vision or may result in being functionally partially blind.

History

• David H. Hubel and Torsten Wiesel, who received The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1981, examined the brain, confirming causes of amblyopia are due to an abnormal development of the brain's visual center.

Misconceptions

• Many people think amblyopia and strabismus are the same, but strabismus is a lack of coordination between the eyes. When a person has strabismus, the eyes look in different directions, resulting in the eyes not focusing on the same object.