What is Amblyopia?
Amploypia is when vision does not develop properly in one or both eyes during childhood. It's mainly common in young children and babies, which is why it is important to solve it as soon as possible
Key facts
- Develops early in a child's life, mainly in young children and babies.
- Depending on what is causing it, it can be hard to tell something is wrong.
- Once treatment begins, the child will have to use their weaker eye for awhile to correct the vision.
- Strabismus: When the eyes point in two different directions.
- Refractive errors: Meaning eye is nearsighted, farsighted, or has astigmatism.
- Cloudiness in normally clear parts of eye.
Your doctor will consider these and other factors when recommending follow-up and treatment.
- A check between both eyes.
- One eye is covered while the doctor checks to see how well the other eye can follow a moving object.
- The doctor may also keep an eye on how a child reacts, such as if they try to look past the patch or pull it off to see better.
- A complete medical exam will be done as well to see if there are any other issues.
Poor vision in one eye doesn't always mean it is amblyopia. Some cases can be corrected by glasses.
Treatment options
To correct Amblyopia, the usual procedure is to have the child use their weaker eye. A patch is used to cover the stronger eye, resulting in the weaker eye being the only form of sight. Other options include glasses with a lens to make the stronger eye vision blurry or eyedrops to cause blurry vision. Surgery may also be recomended in some cases.
Follow-up & ongoing care
This will be a long commitment to get the weaker eyes vision stronger. Up to several weeks to several months of treatment, vision should improve. However they may need to wear a patch part-time for a few years to keep vision strong.
Your next steps
- Schedule an exam for your child
- Have our ophthalmologist look for any signs of amblyopia
- Review and begin treatment