- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- special kids today articles
- special kids today q&a
- community & groups
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
From Our Sponsors
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Lazy Eye
Treatment and Detection of Amblyopia
By Jenn Director Knudsen
At his exam, the doctor covered his right eye and asked Justin to recite lines of letters off an eye chart with his left eye. "We were all amazed at what happened [next]," Williams says. "Justin got a little shy and kept repeating, 'I don't know,' over and over." He couldn't even make out the largest letter on the chart.
Initially, Williams thought her middle son was kidding around, but soon realized there was a problem. "When we asked Justin about his eye, he said, 'Oh yeah – that's my fuzzy eye,'" she says. Apparently, her son never thought to question its lack of clarity.
The doctor diagnosed Justin with amblyopia (pronounced am-BLEE-opia) and farsightedness in his left eye. At 20/400, his left eye is legally blind. He now wears glasses to help correct the astigmatism that caused the amblyopia, but until the eye strengthens, he still only sees about 20/200 with the corrective lenses.
In infants and young kids with lazy eye, the eyeball and the optic nerve are completely normal, says Dr. Janet Neigel, F.A.C.S., a clinical associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, N.J., and an orbitalfacial surgeon at the Neigel Center for Cosmetic and Laser Surgery in West Orange, N.J. The problem lies in the pathways between the nerve and the eye, affecting a person's ability to see images clearly, Dr. Neigel says.
Dr. Neigel says most ophthalmologists will recommend patching the good eye for about a third of the day. This treatment cannot be done, say, 24 hours a day, because "that would induce amblyopia in the other eye." In fact, shortly after the patch is removed from the good eye, it often registers the outside world blurry; the brain has to readjust to using both eyes.