All Your Questions About Amblyopia - Answered By Our Experts
1. Why is Amblyopia Called Lazy eye?
Amblyopia is popularly known as lazy eye because here, one eye(the weaker eye) is lazy to move in sync with the other eye and wanders in another direction, which causes vision acuity. It is also associated with Strabismus or” cross eyes” where both eyes have a misaligned line of sight.
Both our eyes should line up towards a focal point for binocular vision. When this does not happen, both eyes do not capture a clear image, and a confusing image is formed in the brain, causing unclear, hazy vision.
2. When does it occur, and what causes it?
3. How to check its progression?
In a newborn baby, seeing their eyes wandering is normal. But if they persist to wander after a year, they should be diagnosed. Amblyopia may not be noticeable. Therefore every child should be taken for regular eye screening tests to indicate anomalies in early developmental phases.
According to various reports, eyesight is in a constant developmental phase until 7-8 years of age. Therefore, there are maximum chances of complete vision restoration with Amblyopia treatment during this age.
You may often notice the following symptoms in a child with Amblyopia.
● Tilting of head
● Bumping on objects
● Banging on walls due to vision acuity in-depth perception.
● Favoring one side of the body
● Droopy eyelids or closing of one eye
● Crossed eye
● A large difference in near-sightedness or farsightedness vision.
4. Are there different types of Amblyopia?
Yes, there are three types of Amblyopia: Strabismus Amblyopia, Deprivation Amblyopia, and Refractive Amblyopia.
1. Strabismus Amblyopia– This occurs when both eyes cannot see straight. As a result, the brain ignores or “turns off” signals from the weaker eye and the vision subsequently drops in the weak eye.
2. Deprivation Amblyopia – occurs when certain conditions such as cataracts ”deprive” young children of clear vision. If it is not treated early, these children never learn to see properly after a certain age.
3. Refractive Amblyopia– happens due to an unequal amount of refractive error between glasses of two eyes.
Check out this article to know more about these types of Amblyopia.
5. What are the consequences of non-treatment?
Amblyopia affects the clarity of vision and depth perception. As a result, you may bump into things and suffer running, climbing, riding, or driving problems. Also, with increased Amblyopia, the eyes visibly appear squinted, affecting your confidence.
If you see Amblyopia symptoms, it’s better to reach out to an ophthalmologist, get tested, and adopt the latest Amblyopia treatment measures.
6. What Treatments are available?
Traditionally, Patching or penalizing the good eye is Amblyopia treatment. In this, the good eye is covered with a patch, and the child or the person has to work with the weak eye.
The ophthalmologist also recommends vision therapy exercises, and atropine eye drops to reverse Amblyopia.
Bynocs presents a completely new and modern form of Amblyopia treatment through AmblyGo software. This software is based on the dichoptic principle to improve binocular vision. Contrast-adjusted images are shown to both eyes in the form of games. The dominant eye sees lesser contrast images, and the non-dominant receives intense contrast images. The therapy rewires the brain’s plasticity and stimulates new neural connections to see and respond according to contrast-adjusted images.
By playing those games, for twenty minutes per session, about 90% of people (most of them are kids) have witnessed improvement in their vision.
7. In contrary to Patching, how is AmblyGo more effective?
Patching, though a traditional way of Amblyopia treatment, has certain limits; for example:
● The limited two-three hour patching every day develops new neural pathways very slowly.
● Children often face inconvenience to work with eye-patch.
● Children refrain from socializing with patching.
● Amblyopia may recur after patching treatment.
● Almost ineffective in adult Amblyopia treatment
On the contrary- the latest AmblyGo therapy is successful for the following reasons:
● 90% success
● Treatment through an easy, play-way method
● No incidences of Diplopia(double-vision)
● No recurrence after completion of treatment
● Successful treatment of Amblyopia in adults
8. Until what age can it be corrected?
Typically, Amblyopia can be easily corrected up to ten years. However, the latest AmblyGo vision therapy can stimulate the brain’s plasticity more efficiently and has shown positive vision outcomes in patients of all ages.
This Amblyopia therapy is also effective for adult Amblyopia treatment, and about 85% of people have witnessed vision improvement after taking sessions.
