LAZY EYE IN CHILDREN

Apr
28
2009

Symptoms: eyes are not parallel; the pupil of one eye is a different color from the other; child has trouble judging distance; child cocks head or moves face in effort to see clearly.

Home care

Home care cannot be undertaken until a doctor has diagnosed the condition.

Precautions

- A child under seven whose eyes are not parallel all or most of the time should be seen by - If lazy eye is not diagnosed and treated, the condition can become permanent.

- Have your child’s eyes checked every year after the age of three or four.

A “lazy eye” is one in which the vision is poor because the child has suppressed the image received by that eye. Basically it’s loss of vision from lack of use and is known technically as amblyopia ex anopsia. Most cases of lazy eye result from weakness of one or more of the six small muscles that move the eyeball. Eye muscle weaknesses can cause the eyes to turn in or out in relation to each other. This can lead to the child’s seeing double. If a young child learns to ignore one of the double images, a loss of vision in the unused eye results. On the other hand, if the eye muscles are normal but the vision is poor in one eye, the young child may ignore the poor image received. This can result from marked near- or farsightedness, astigmatism, or other interference with vision in one eye. Such interference might be caused by congenital cataracts (clouding of the lens of the eye) or scars on the cornea (the transparent front part of the eye).

Signs and symptoms

Lazy eye should be suspected when the eyes are not parallel all or most of the time, or are parallel less and less often in a child under seven years of age. See your doctor if: your child’s eyes aren’t parallel; the pupil of one eye is a different color from the other; your child is over two years old and has trouble seeing or judging distances when reaching for an object; or your child cocks his or her head to one side or turns his or her face to see better (the child may be compensating for double vision).

Home care

No home treatment for lazy eye is advised until a doctor has diagnosed the condition.

Precautions

• You should understand lazy eye so that if the condition occurs in your child you can catch it in time for treatment to be successful.

• Have your child’s vision checked each year after age three or four. Lazy eye can be treated successfully in children up to age seven. If it’s left untreated the condition may become permanent.

Medical treatment

Your doctor will inspect the insides and outsides of both eyes and test their movements in all directions. If the child is old enough to understand directions, the doctor can check the vision. Vision will be checked with a letter or picture chart. A younger child’s vision should be checked by an ophthalmologist who can use a system that does not require the child to follow instructions.

Lazy eye is corrected either by patching the good eye or hindering the vision in the good eye with eye drops or glasses. By blocking the good eye, the child is forced to use the lazy eye. As a final resort, surgery is sometimes necessary to correct the weak eye muscles.