Amblyopia / Lazy Eye

Amblyopia, commonly known as lazy eye, is a visual condition where one eye sees poorly even with use of glasses or contact lenses.

Amblyopia can often occur as a direct result of Strabismus (eye turn / crossed eyes) or differences in clarity between the two eyes (due to farsightedness, nearsightedness or astigmatism).

When the brain has a difficult time interpreting the visual information from the two eyes because differences in clarity or alignment, the brain begins to ignore one eye and amblyopia occurs.

Amblyopia is ideally treated at an early age, but scientific research shows it can be successfully treated well into adult years. Because it is a brain-based issue and based on neuroplasticity, improvements in functional visual skills controlled by various visual pathways are often seen. Treatment generally consists of:

1. Glasses or contact lenses to provide the most balanced prescription for the two eyes to work together
2. Vision therapy to equate visual skills between the two eyes, encouraging improvement and stability in binocular functioning, leading to more efficient visual processing and coordination
3. Occasional, controlled dynamic patching (current PEDIG/Amblyopia Treatment Study shows more than 2 hours of patching provides no additional benefit) to encourage the non-preferred eye to work more efficiently.