“Lazy eye” is a term used to describe an eye condition that begins in childhood and lasts till adulthood. When parents come to me for their children’s eye exam, they want to rule out the eye condition in their kids. Now, that is a good thing. But over the years, I have come to understand that parents don't really know what a lazy eye means. It does not mean that the eye cannot move freely.
I will explain this through a story. Let’s say newborn twins are perfectly healthy and normal (in all aspects) at birth. But, say, someone decides to patch one eye of one twin and not remove it till the child turns eight years old. What do you think will happen to the eye that had the patch? It will have very poor vision, and the sad part is there is no treatment in the world that will bring the vision back. The other eye, however, will have a completely normal vision. The ophthalmologist would most likely not offer much if the child has crossed 10 years of age. The eye exercises for lazy eyes only work in younger children. The eye, which now has no vision, is a LAZY EYE. What this means is that the eye structure is normal, but has no sight. It is also known as Amblyopia.
Vision develops after birth until seven-eight years of age. If during these seven years there is an obstruction to that development, eyesight will be affected. After the said ages, it's too late, and no matter what we do vision cannot be improved. There are, however, some reports that claim a lazy eye in adults can be treated. While these may be true, the volume of this data is not significant.
What causes a Lazy eye?
Amblyopia causes are many. Let’s say a child has a high glass power and does not wear spectacles. In that case, the eye is not able to see things properly. Now, this eye is not as bad as the patched eye, but is bad enough. Hence, if the child has glasses, but is not wearing them could lead to lazy eye.
The other obstruction could be a child born with a cataract and parents choosing to not get it operated. The cataract is as bad as a patch because doesn’t let light enter the eye at all. In many cases, ophthalmologists operate on cataracts on babies as young as six weeks of age. This is one of the rarer causes, but the amblyopia is very severe or dense, which is why it needs urgent treatment.
Another problem is the squint. When the child has a squint in an eye, the brain stops using that eye. This happens only in children and is called ‘suppression’. The reason the brain suppresses the squinting eye is so that the child does not have double vision. The brain suppressing the eye is like a patch and thus the vision in that squinting eye does not develop.
Ruling out a lazy eye is one of the important reasons to get a routine eye examination for your children.
(Dr Deepak Garg is a Cataract and Squint specialist and Founder Eye Solutions, Mumbai)
