Lazy Eye & Amblyopia – The Causes, Symptoms & Treatments of Lazy Eye

Lazy Eye Causes

Lazy eye is a common non-medical term used to describe amblyopia because the eye with poorer vision doesn’t seem to be doing its job of seeing. Amblyopia is the most common cause of impaired vision in children, affecting nearly three out of every 100 people or 2-4% of the population.

Lazy eye is a self-perpetuating condition. From the earliest stages of development, the “bad” eye presents the brain with a blurred image. It usually develops before age six and it does not affect side vision. This age is the best time to treat lazy eye, since results are better the earlier they are implemented.

If not detected and treated early in life, loss of vision and depth perception can occur. Lazy eye is not a condition that will get better on its own. Early treatment remains one of the best ways to deal with the condition.

Lazy Eye Symptoms

In most cases one eye does not see with the same visual acuity as the other eye, and poorly transmits visual information to the brain. If you cover the healthy eye, people with lazy eye or amblyopia will have a difficult time making out things, or may see very little at all.

Amblyopia, or lazy eye, is reduced vision in an eye that has not received adequate use during early childhood. After the age of four years, the development of the part of the brain that processes vision is almost complete.

Unfortunately, one-half of all cases of amblyopia are not diagnosed until after the age of 5 when it is difficult to correct. Amblyopia is a “neurologically active” process. In other words, the loss of vision takes place in the brain.