Amblyopia, commonly known as lazy eye, is an impairment of vision that occurs when the nerve pathway from one eye to the brain does not develop normally in childhood, usually caused by an eye turning inward or outward or one eye having significantly better focus than the other. It is the most common vision problem in children affecting ages 1-10. While treatment is most effective before age 8, vision therapy can still help improve vision between ages 9-adult. Treatment involves correcting refractive errors with glasses and patching or applying eye drops to the stronger eye to force use of the weaker eye.

2.  Amblyopia is when the
nerve pathway from one
eye to the brain doesn’t
develop during childhood.
This occurs because the
abnormal eye sends a
blurred image or the wrong
image to the brain.
 Amblyopia can affect the
first decade of childhood
(1-10 yrs old). It is the most
common vision problem in
children.

3.  Amblyopia usually starts when one eye
has much better focus than the other
eye.
› For example: one eye might be very
nearsighted or have a lot of astigmatism,
while the other does not. When the brain is
confronted with both a blurry image and a
clear image, it will begin to ignore the blurry
image. If this goes on for months or years, the
vision in the eye that sees the blurry image
will deteriorate.

4.  Another cause of amblyopia is
“strabismus”.
› Strabismus is an ocular
misalignment, meaning that
one eye turns inward or
outward.
› This prevents the eyes from
focusing together on an
image and can cause
double vision.
› As a respond, the brain
generally chooses to ignore
the image from the
abnormal eye, causing the
vision in that eye to
deteriorate.
› Because one of the eyes is
misaligned, some people
refer to this as a "lazy eye."

5.  Eyes that don’t appear to work together
 Inability to judge depth correctly
 Poor vision in one eye
 Easily diagnosed with a complete
examination of the eyes
 Eyes turn in or out

6.  Correcting the optical
deficit, (wearing glasses),
forcing use of the eye
 You can patch the good
eye or apply topical
atropine in the eye with
better vision
 Full recovery is near
impossible in anyone
over eight
 However, treatment in
Ages 9-adult is possible
through applied
perceptual learning

7.  DugDale, D. C. (2010, August 12). Amblyopia. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002009/
 Amblyopia. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amblyopia
 Causes of amblyopia. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.eyecollege.com/Amblyopia.asp
 Amblyopia. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://eyerobics.com.au/amblyopia.html
 (n.d.). Retrieved from http://uvahealth.com/services/childrens-
hospital/conditions-treatments/96469 (Photo 1)
 (n.d.). Retrieved from http://healthy-ojas.com/eye/amblyopia.html
(Photo 2)
 (n.d.). Retrieved from http://drpatch.ca/ (Photo )