At some point, you may encounter a child wearing an eyepatch in public and wondered about it. One of the reasons could be the child is trying to fix their poor vision which only occurs in one eye, sometimes both, due to abnormal vision development. This eye condition is called amblyopia or lazy eye. The brain must learn to see and interpret the images presented by the eyes throughout the first few years of life. But when the brain receives a weak image from the eye, the brain failed to recognize the sight from the eye. When this continues, the brain becomes increasingly reliant on the other stronger eye, while vision in the weaker eye worsens.
Types of Amblyopia
Amblyopia may occur early in life, despite the normal appearance of the eye structures. Take an understanding of these types of amblyopia that you should be aware of.1. Strabismic Amblyopia
Strabismic amblyopia happens when the eyes are not straight. One of the eyes may appear in, out, up, or down. When this happens, the brain begins to ignore the non-straight eye, and vision in that eye suffers as a result. In terms of amblyopia, constant strabismus is more severe than intermittent one.2. Deprivation Amblyopia
This occurs when cataracts or other eye conditions deprive the visual experience of young children. These children can never learn to see well and might have very poor eyesight if not addressed early. This kind of amblyopia can sometimes affect both eyes. But, however severe deprivation amblyopia is, this eye condition is the rarest type of amblyopia. Among the many causes of stimulus deprivation are eyelid ptosis, corneal opacities, cataracts, and vitreous hemorrhage.3. Reverse Amblyopia
After getting an initial diagnosis of amblyopia, putting an eye patch on the healthy eye or administering atropine medication are its treatment effects from the original amblyopic eye. It is a condition that results in declined vision in an eye that typically appears normal.Symptoms Of Amblyopia
Symptoms of amblyopia can be difficult to detect. Children with amblyopia may have poor depth perception, which means they have difficulty in determining how close or far something is. A child suffering from amblyopia will be unable to focus properly with one of their eyes. These are several symptoms you may notice:1. Blurred vision
Images will not be clear in the eye with impaired vision. When the brain does not receive clear data, it begins to ignore it.2. Contrast sensitivity
It is the ability to distinguish between an object and its circumstances. For example, looking at the newspaper with black print on a grey backdrop would be far more difficult for someone with amblyopia to view. While something strong contrast, such as black print on a white backdrop, would be much easier for them to see.3. Poor depth perception
Normal depth perception can be simply interpreted like this scenario; when you see someone walking toward you, you should be able to tell when the person is about five feet away from you. However, someone who lacks depth perception cannot accurately perceive how far the person is. The ability to assess depth may be affected because the eyes are not working together.4. The eyes do not appear to work together
Even with both eyes open and visual correction in place, the small lines on a vision chart will still be difficult to read.5. Binocular vision
The fact that having both our eyes open improves vision, contrast sensitivity, and depth perception. But things could not be the same for people with amblyopia. They can only see better with only one eye open, not when both of the eyes are.6. Sensitivity to motion
Movement in the visual field is quite sensitive to a normal visual system. Amblyopia, on the other hand, can make a person less sensitive to the same movement.7. Crowding Effect
A person with amblyopia may be able to read the letters on the vision chart if they are singled out. It is far more difficult for them to read letters from the smaller lines when the entire chart is displayed.8. Diplopia
Also called double vision, this occurs when both eyes fail to work together when focusing on an object. Instead, one eye could focus while the other focuses on something else. People experience double vision when their brain accepts two non-matching images at the same time. In order to avoid double vision, the brain will eventually ignore one of the mismatched images, leading to blindness in one eye if left untreated.Treatment of Amblyopia
A lazy eye can be treated and never is too late. It is simpler to treat and control amblyopia and other visual disorders if they are discovered early. One of the ways is wearing an eye patch on the stronger eye. When the stronger eye is covered with a stick-on eye patch, the brain is compelled to utilize the weaker eye to see. It is kind of similar to a band-aid. Some children only wear the patch for two hours every day, while others may require it all day. The other way is putting special eye drops in the eye that is stronger. A daily dose of atropine can temporarily weaken near vision and this is to force the brain to switch to the other eye. For some children, this approach works equally as well as an eye patch, and some parents find it easier to use. Well, it could be the children might be trying to remove the eye patch whenever they feel like it.
