Children’s Eye Concerns: Lazy Eye (Amblyopia)
Taking care of your child’s eye is one of the most important parts in the child’s development. Beware that the developments during the age up to 15 is going to prolong all his/her life. It is extremely important that your kid’s eye is periodically checked and enough attention should be given from their early ages. A proper examination that the development from a young age can prevent any problems and can be diagnosed and treated before they worsen or cause any other complications. In many conditions, the symptoms can be felt even when your kid is an infant and it becomes complicated to correct the longer they go untreated. According to many Eyecare experts, children’s eye should be examined beginning from 6 months to ensure that there are no hinders for the child’s development.
Here are few eye problems which may concern your children:
Amblyopia:
Amblyopia also called ‘Lazy Eye’ is a state where the vision is reduced caused due to abnormal visual development early in life. Amblyopia generally develops from birth up to 7 years. It is one of the major issues for decreased vision in one eye among children. This defect affects both eyes in both cases. Early diagnoses and treatment can help in preventing long-term problems with your kid’s vision. Lazy eye can be usually corrected with glasses or contact lenses, or eye patches and sometimes surgery is required.
Symptoms or Signs:
- An eye wandering inward or outward
- Eyes that appear to not work together
- Poor depth perception
- Shutting or Squinting an eye
- Head Tilting
- Abnormal results of vision screening tests.
Sometimes the lazy eye is not evident without an eye screening test.
Causes:
Lazy eye develops because of abnormal visual experience early in life that changes nerve pathways between a retina at the back of the eye and the brain. The affected eye receives fewer visual signals. Eventually, the ability of the eyes to work together reduces and as a result, the brain ignores input from the weaker eye. Anything that blurs a child’s vision or causes the eye to cross or turn out may result in lazy eye. Most common causes for this condition include:
- Muscle imbalance (strabismus). The most common cause of lazy eye is an imbalance in the muscles that position the eyes. This imbalance can cause the eyes to cross in or turn out and prevents them from tracking together in a coordinated way.
- A difference in sharpness of vision between the eyes (refractive anisometropia).A significant difference between the prescriptions in each eye — often due to farsightedness but sometimes to nearsightedness or an imperfection on the surface of the eye called astigmatism — can result in lazy eye. Glasses or contact lenses are typically used to correct these refractive problems. In some children lazy eye is caused by a combination of strabismus and refractive problems.
- Deprivation. Any problem with one eye — such as a cloudy area in the lens (cataract) — can deprive a child of clear vision in that eye. Deprivation amblyopia in infancy requires urgent treatment to prevent permanent vision loss. Deprivation amblyopia often results in the most severe amblyopia.
Complications and Risk Factors:
Untreated, lazy eye can cause permanent vision loss. Lazy eye is the cause of permanent vision loss in 2.9 percent of adults. Risk factors associated with an increased chance of lazy eye include premature birth, small size at birth, the genetic history of lazy eye or developmental disabilities.
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