Amblyopia — often called "lazy eye" — is the most common cause of visual impairment in children. The eye itself may look perfectly normal. The trouble is that it doesn't work properly with the brain, and the brain comes to favor the other eye. Sometimes both eyes are affected.
What causes it
| Cause | What's going on |
|---|---|
| Strabismus | the two eyes don't line up in the same direction |
| Refractive error in one eye | one eye can't focus as well as the other because of its shape — nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism |
| Cataract | a clouding of the lens of the eye |
How it's found
Amblyopia can be hard to diagnose. It is often picked up during a routine vision exam.
Treatment: make the weaker eye work
The aim is to force the child to use the eye with weaker vision. There are two common ways:
| Method | How it works |
|---|---|
| Eye patch | the child wears a patch over the stronger eye for several hours a day, over weeks to months |
| Atropine eye drops | one drop a day in the stronger eye temporarily blurs its vision |
Sometimes the underlying cause needs treating too — with glasses or surgery.
Sources
Based on "Amblyopia," MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, with its summary from the NIH National Eye Institute; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from medlineplus.gov
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