by Ken Wong
on 21 September 2019

How well do you understand “Lazy Eye”? There’s are so many myth and misunderstading to lazy eye. What is lazy eyes? What causes it? How can we prevent it? Today’s we will share about lazy eye (Amblyopia).

What causes it?

Amblyopia starts when an eye has better focus than the others. This is because there’s a breakdown in how the brain and the eye work together. The brain itself cannot recognize the sight from the other eye. Sometimes, one is more farsighted or has lots of astigmatism, but the other doesn’t. When a child’s brain gets both a blurry image and a clear image, the brain automatically will ignore the blurry one. If this goes on for months or years in a young child, vision in the blurry eye will getting worse. It’s this misalignment that led to the term “lazy eyes” or amblyopia.

How is Amblyopia Diagnosed?

All children should have their eye test before they are school-age. Head to trusted vision care center or spectacle shop. They will make sure that your children :

• Has nothing blocks the light coming into her eyes.
• Both eyes see equally well
• Each eye moves like it should.

If there’s any problem that stated above, the optometrist or optician will suggest you to take her to an eye specialist and they will suggest some eye exercise for your children, it depends the condition of the children eye. If you have a history background of amblyopia runs in your family, your children is more likely to get it. Always remember, early diagnosis and treatment are the keys to good result, don’t be afraid and bring your children to have an eye test.

How can it be treated?

Most kids with amblyopia also need glasses to help their eyes focus. The golden treatment period is before 7 years old, make sure to take your children to have an eyecheck every 6 months / year.

Besides, doctor will give your children a patch to wear over the “strong” eye which is the eye that see things clearer. This is to let force the “weak” eye to see things clearly. At first, they will have a hard time seeing with just the weak eye, but their vision will get better when they use the eye patch for a period, it might take weeks or months for that to happen. Follow doctor’s instruction carefully and bring your childen in for a scheduled visits to follow up on the case. In mild cases of amblyopia, doctor might suggest using an eye drop called atropine. It blurs the stong eye so your child won’t need to wear a patch, it’s all depend on the eye condition that doctor will suggest the best solution for your chilren.

Always remember to take your children to get eye exams early on. Amblyopia becomes much harder to treat after 7-9 years of age. And remember to follow doctor’s instruction about treatment, even when it’s very tough.

We are always welcome parents to take their children to come over TRUVIEW OPTICAL in SRI PETALING to have an eye test, we have professional here to serve you !