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Lazy eye is also known as Amblyopia. Lazy eye is an early childhood condition where a child’s eyesight in one eye does not develop as it should. The problem is usually in just one eye, but can sometimes affect both of them.

When a patient has amblyopia the brain focuses on one eye more than the other, virtually ignoring the lazy eye. If that eye is not stimulated properly the visual brain cells do not mature normally. In the USA and UK amblyopia affects approximately 2% to 3% of all children. It is the most common cause of partial or total blindness in one eye (monocular blindness) in the USA.

The term lazy eye is inaccurate, because the eye is not lazy. In fact, it would probably be more accurate to say lazy brain, because it is a developmental problem in the brain, not an organic problem in the eye.

Amblyopia, commonly known as “lazy eye”, is a visual disorder affecting as many as 2 or 3 percent of children under the age of six. Children with amblyopia experience significant vision loss in one eye, causing a loss of stereoscopic vision and possible blindness in the affected eye. It is not a condition that can be treated with eyeglasses or other traditional corrective methods. Amblyopic children may have two relatively healthy eyes, but the connection between one of those eyes and the brain did not fully develop during early childhood.

Many people mistake the symptoms of amblyopia with another disorder called strabismus (an involuntary crossing of the eyes). If a child has a form of strabismus in which one eye remains misaligned continuously, then he or she could also develop amblyopia as a result. But many amblyopic children have normal eye alignments, so parents and family practitioners may not recognize all of the symptoms. Only an examination by a qualified pediatric eye doctor can reveal the presence of true amblyopia.

Treatment of amblyopia depends on the age of the patient and the severity of the affliction. Since the unaffected eye becomes so dominant, most treatment programs involve forcing the other eye to take over the visual chores for a while. Amblyopic children may have to wear patches over the dominant eye or use atropine drops to cause blurriness. These methods force the affected eye to strengthen its connection with the visual cortex. Sometimes surgery may be performed to correct strabismus, but amblyopic symptoms may continue without therapy.