Amblyopia

Amblyopia is a common condition in children that can lead to permanent vision loss.  If you or your child’s pediatrician are concerned about amblyopia in your child, highly skilled pediatric ophthalmologist, Elena Nguyen, MD, at ENvision Eye Care in Foster City, California, offers expert diagnosis and treatment of amblyopia.  Call ENvision Eye Care or request an appointment online today for an amblyopia evaluation.

What is amblyopia?

Amblyopia (or a “lazy eye”) refers to decreased vision in one or both eyes due to abnormal vision development in infancy or childhood.  It is the leading cause of vision loss amongst children.  In the first few years of life, the brain must learn to see by interpreting the images provided by the eyes.  In a patient with amblyopia, the brain receives a poor image from the eye and so doesn’t learn to see well.

What causes amblyopia?

Visual development normally occurs during the first few years of life.  At birth, infants have very poor vision but as they grow and continue to use their eyes more, their vision improves.  If a child is not able to use their eye, the vision centers in the brain do not develop properly and the vision is decreased, resulting in amblyopia.  This can occur despite normal-appearing eye structures.

A child may not be able to use one or both of their eyes due to a number of reasons.  Refractive amblyopia (the most common type) is caused by a need for glasses that is not corrected early in childhood.  Strabismic amblyopia is caused by misaligned eyes and deprivational amblyopia is caused by a structural abnormality in the eye such as a cataract, droopy eyelid, or corneal scar.

How is amblyopia diagnosed?

Amblyopia can be detected by pediatricians who perform vision screenings at their office visits.  This can be done with electronic devices that can identify possible refractive errors and strabismus (aka eye misalignment) in children that are too young or unable to test their vision by reading off a vision chart.  These vision screening devices can be inaccurate so any suspicion for amblyopia must be confirmed with a comprehensive eye exam by an experienced pediatric ophthalmologist.  See “Pediatric Eye Exam” for more details.

How is amblyopia treated?

The treatment for amblyopia depends on the type of amblyopia.  Refractive amblyopia and certain types of strabismic amblyopia can be treated with glasses.  Deprivation amblyopia and certain types of strabismic amblyopia are usually treated with surgery (for example, cataract removal or eye muscle re-alignment).  If the amblyopia is only in one eye or worse in one eye compared to the other, it can be treated by patching or using eye drops to blur the better-seeing eye.  This encourages the weaker eye to develop stronger visual pathways and improve its vision.

If there is concern for amblyopia in your child, schedule an eye exam with Dr. Nguyen by calling ENvision Eye Care or booking an appointment online today.