Amblyopia

Amblyopia is a developmental disorder of binocular vision commonly known as a “lazy eye” and is defined as reduced vision in one eye compared to the other. Amblyopia is due to suppression, or the brain actively ignoring the information coming from one eye. In addition to poor visual acuity, people with amblyopia are more prone to have difficulties with depth perception, eye movements related to reading, and visual decision making in driving. According to the National Institute of Health, amblyopia is the most common cause of visual impairment among children.

Amblyopia is treatable at any age. At Everett Vision Therapy, a binocular approach to treating amblyopia combine with minimal eye patching will be used . Less reliance on patching can help reduce emotional stress on a child or the family.

Symptoms include:

• Reduced eye sight in one eye
• Lack of depth perception
• Clumsiness
• Delays in visual-motor coordination, i.e. hard time catching a ball
• Delays in visual information processing

Treatment may include:

• Eyeglasses or contact lenses
• Oculomotor skills to improve and equalize tracking of both eyes
• Accommodative skills to improve focusing
• Anti-suppression therapy
• Binocular vision development for improved eye teaming to achieving 3D vision.
• Perceptual learning and visual processing development
• Eye hand coordination training