3 Non-Surgical Treatment Options For Children With Amblyopia

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3 Non-Surgical Treatment Options For Children With Amblyopia

4 April 2016
 Categories: , Articles


Amblyopia, colloquially called lazy eye, is an eye condition characterized by decreased vision in one eye. It occurs when the brain decides to favor one eye and ignore information from the other eye; this can happen if the eyes are misaligned or if one eye has better vision than the other. The ignored eye—in response to being ignored by the brain—may then wander and become lazy. A number of treatments are available for children with ambylopia. Here are three non-surgical treatment options for children with ambylopia.

Eye Patching

The standard treatment for ambylopia is eye patching. The stronger eye is covered with a patch which forces the brain to stop ignoring the weaker eye. Over time, the goal of this treatment is to re-train the lazy eye to work hard and to make the brain pay attention to the signals the lazy eye is transmitting. This treatment is possible because the pathways between the eyes and the brain continue to develop in children.

At first, your child will need to wear the eye patch for two hours a day. If the lazy eye hasn't improved after at least 12 weeks, they may need to wear the patch for six hours a day. The patch can be worn at any time of day, though it may be easier for your child to wear the eye patch after school to avoid uncomfortable attention from their peers.

Your child will need to keep wearing the patch everyday until their optometrist is satisfied with the improvements their lazy eye has made. If necessary, additional treatments can be performed.

Pharmacological Penalization

If your child won't wear their eye patch, or if you don't want them to wear an eye patch, pharmacological penalization is another option. This treatment involves penalizing the stronger eye with medicated eye drops. This treatment works in the same way as eye patching does: it forces the brain to pay attention to the lazy eye.

Atropine eye drops are used for this treatment. Atropine is a medication that naturally occurs in poisonous plants like deadly nightshade. In the small doses found in eye drops, it safely dilates the pupil and paralyzes the irises to keep the eye from focusing. This results in blurred vision in the strong eye. The effects of the drops last for between seven and 14 days. Your child's optometrist will monitor the progress of their lazy eye and will tell you when you can stop giving them the drops.

Active Vision Therapies

Patching and pharmacological penalization are both passive therapies, which means that they don't require any effort from your child. Active vision therapies, on the other hand, require your child to perform tasks to try to build up their lazy eye.

During active vision therapy, your child will need to wear a patch on their stronger eye. While they're wearing the patch, they'll perform tasks with their weaker eye. These tasks may include fun games like word puzzles or computer games, as well as other activities like drawing or coloring. Crafting activities, like threading beads, can also be a part of active vision therapy.

Some studies have shown that active vision therapies can provide better results than patching or penalization, though this may be because the activities are more fun for children. When the treatment is fun, children may be more likely to comply with their optometrist's directions.

If your child suffers from amblyopia, many non-surgical treatments are available to correct their weaker eye and improve their vision. Take your child to an optometrist (like those at Discover  Vision Centers) right away to find out if patching, penalization or active vision therapy are right for your child.

About Me
contacts that don't need removed at night

I have worn contact lenses for the last twenty years and never had any problems with them. I had heard about contact lenses that could be worn for a week straight without having to remove them to sleep. This is something that really interested me because there are mornings that I just don't have the time to mess around cleaning and putting in new lenses. I liked the thought of being able to watch TV in bed without having my glasses pressing on the sides of my head. I created this blog to provide other contact lens wearers with the information that I used to decide whether or not to try these new lenses.