“Lazy Eye” Treatment at Maple Ridge Eye Care

The term, lazy eye, is a misnomer. Laziness is a fault in character, a vice if you will. Besides, we have the capacity to change if we want to and put our minds to the task. In the case of lazy eye, the eye condition, the eye itself is doing its job. It is seeing images. It is the brain that for some reason, does not acknowledge the image. Lazy eye strikes early, usually doing its damage by age 7. However, early diagnosis by an eye doctor can mean that the lazy eye treatment he or she prescribes can blunt lasting effects.

Some Facts About Lazy Eye

Let's start with the name: the real scientific term, amblyopia, comes from the Greek words amblys meaning dull, blunt, or dimmed, and opia which means eye, and by extent, vision. Amblyopia is an eye condition in which one eye suffers reduced vision due to abnormal visual development. Something occurs in the early years of a child's life that alters the nerve pathways between the brain and the retina at the back of the eye. As a result, the brain favors one eye, while either completely ignoring the other, the "lazy eye", or at best, registering only random images. Although this interruption affects only one eye, it can lead to overall reduced vision, including loss of depth perception and two-eyed 3D vision. Eventually the eyes' ability to work together decreases.

Symptoms of Amblyopia

The following can be a sign that a child has a lazy eye:

• Eyes don't seem to work together
• One eye wanders either outward or inward
• Head tilting
• Squinting
• Shutting one eye while attempting to focus
• Poor depth perception

Why Your Maple Ridge Eye Doctor Recommends Eye Exams for Babies At 6 Months of Age

Lazy eye is the leading cause of monocular blindness, partial or complete loss of vision in one eye, and it affects 2 to 3% of children in this country, developing anytime between birth and age 7. Since early treatment, like prescribed eyeglasses, or a patch worn over the working eye, can help prevent long term vision problems for children with amblyopia, the sooner it's diagnosed the better.

Call Maple Ridge Eye Care Today!

One difficulty is that amblyopia can often escape the attention of parents and pediatricians. That's why we recommend that all parents in Maple Ridge, BC bring their children in for their first eye health exam at 6 months of age, the next time at age 3 and then annually thereafter, whether they notice one eye tends to wander or not. If your child has not yet had an eye exam, give us a call at Maple Ridge Eye Care for an appointment.