CAUSES OF AMBLYOPIAAmblyopia, or commonly known as lazy eye is a serious developmental problem that affects vision. It is often caused by a pre-existing problem in one eye that causes differing visual acuity in the two eyes. It often occurs when the person is at very young, usually before the age of 5 when their vision is still developing. Some of the common eye problems that may result in amblyopia may be myopia, hyperopia, squint, cataract and even retina damaged.
When visual acuity in both eyes differs, it visual neuro-pathway (optic nerves to the brains) of the good eye continues to develop well, wherelse that of the bad eyes slowed or stopped. The child is able to see clearly from one eye and not the other. Most adults would observe that the patient often tilt their face to one side as they prefer to use their good eye in their visual activities. In some cases, patients do suffer from both eyes amblyopic.
As amblyopia is a development problem in the visual in the neuro-pathway, it becomes more difficult to treat as the patient grow older and older, where their brains development starts to mature. Amblyopia is easier to treat before age of 5, and becomes increasingly difficult to treat when they pass the age of 8. Many ophthalmologists consider patients above age of 11 to have pass the treatable age. Hence, amblyopia is an illness that must be treated early.
AMBLYOPIA DIAGNOSIS It is often complicated diagnose Amblyopia. It is difficult, for example, to determine if a patient couldnt see well because he is severely myopic of -20.0D (2000 degrees shortsighted) or he is -10.0D and amblyopic. Amblyopic patients would not be able to see to 1.0 on the LogMar Chart or 6/6 on the snellen chart irregardless of the reflective correction prescribed.
It is strongly suggested that only trained personnel confirm the diagnosis of amblyopia. In hospitals with the proper equipment, they would often measure the VEP (visual evoked potential), or electric pulses received by the brain in a visual process to determine the occurrence of amblyopia.
COMMON TREATMENT
There are currently many ways to treat amblyopia. The most common of which is to prescribe spectacles, or to patch the unaffected eye and force the amblyopic eyes to work.
With spectacle prescription, we aim to assist the affected eye to see clearer, thus attempting to rekindle the development of the affected visual neuro-pathway. Similarly, when the patient patch their good eye, they are forcing the affected eye to be left with no choice but to see and develop. These method are often sufficient, especially if the patient is discovered early and treatment before the age of 5.
However, there would be cases when this two treatment is not effective. Or sometimes, the child refuses to patch due to social insecurity or skin sensitivity; thus hampering the treatment process. This delay worsen the treatment process as when the patient grows, amblyopia becomes more difficult to treat as previously explained.
DEVICE ASSISTED TREATMENT
Some hospitals uses devices to assist in the treatment of amblyopia, and one of the more effective devices was to use blinking red lights to stimulate the amblyopic eyes visual cerebral cortex. The underlying principle was that retina cones cells are more sensitive to spectrum within 600 to 680nm range; hence by using this specific spectrum range, it is more effective in stimulating and increasing the senses of the eye, thereby increasing the activity in the visual fields(retina, optic nerves and visual cerebral cortex).
EyeRelax Amblyopia is an improvement to such devices based on recent research on visual fields, especially in the field of neuro-science.
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Amblyopia & Amplyopia Treatment
