The lazy eye syndrome is a difficultly correctable problem

Any problem with eyesight negatively affects the comfort of a person, because it is through our eyes that we receive the greatest volumes of information from the surrounding world. But even worse, when the problem is poorly amenable to correction and gradually leads to a decrease in the level of vision. It is such a problem is the so-called lazy eye syndrome.

What it is

The lazy eye syndrome is better known as amblyopia.This is a disease in which binocular vision is broken, that is, the brain can not combine images from two eyes into one.Therefore, the work of one of the eyes is partially suspended, and the level of vision falls sharply enough.

Most often the problem occurs in children, but sometimes it can affect adults.

Causes

Amblyopia can be primary and secondary, depending on the causes that provoked it.For example, the primary lazy eye is produced when the eyeball begins to grow incorrectly in a child in the womb of the mother.

In this case, the child is already born with a problem that can be difficult enough to diagnose.

Depending on what is the cause of secondary amblyopia, several different subspecies are distinguished.

Amblyopia in newborns

• Hysterical.Occurs when a person has a serious trauma of a mental nature. It manifests itself first of all in people who are highly excitable. As a result, they have a process of visual perception in the cerebral cortex.
• Obscurational.The cause may be congenital cataract, throat or ptosis. This is a rather dangerous form of the disease, because with it, if you do not perform timely treatment, vision can be especially difficult to restore.
• Anisometropic.If two eyes have a very big difference in refraction, then a similar kind of disease arises. As a result, in the visual center of the brain there are problems with creating a single visual image, because one eye begins to "fail" and turn off the brain.
• Disbinocular.It is formed on the mowing eye, if there is monolateral friendly strabismus. If you do not take measures and do not contribute to the normal focusing of the patient's eye, then in the future the person simply will not be able to see them normally.
• Refraction.When it occurs, a characteristic refractive error occurs. As a result, focusing the image with one or two eyes becomes blurred. Usually, this type of disease is provoked by myopia or hyperopia, which for a long time have not been treated. Another option is astigmatism.

Symptoms

Symptoms can vary depending on how strongly the disease is expressed and what form it has.For example, if it is weak, it can proceed almost without symptoms, which can greatly complicate the diagnosis.

This is especially problematic when the disease occurs in young children, because if they have it, they, according to the reason for the lack of normal visual experience, can not assess whether they see well or not, because they simply have nothing to compare.

Usually the signs of the problem in children are manifested in strabismus, nystagmus and the inability to fix one's eyes at one point.In adults, however, this is primarily manifested in a sharp decrease in visual acuity, which can not be corrected.It also develops the habit of closing one eye when writing or reading and tilting the head toward the subject that is being examined.If the disease occurs in its so-called hysterical form, then impaired vision can appear almost instantaneously, then do not go through for a period of up to several months.

Diagnostics

To establish the problem, a special examination is carried out, which tests the asymmetry of refraction, the work of the eye muscles, and verifies the true visual acuity and examines the fundus. After these and several other studies, amblyopia can be diagnosed.

Treatment

There are several approaches to the treatment of the disease, each of which is effective in different situations.Some of the methods of treatment can help only at very weak stages, so do not engage self-medication, it is better to ask the attending physician which measures to take, in order not to aggravate the situation.

The main methods of treatment include the following:

• Wearing eye patches. A very simple method, which, nevertheless, sometimes helps a lot. If you wear an eye patch on a healthy eye, then a weak eye will take on all the visual work - and the situation will gradually be leveled. This approach helps primarily young children, up to 7 or 8 years. For adults, this method is less effective, but also effective.
• Optics.There are special types of glasses that help improve the condition of the eyes. Usually from such glasses it makes sense, when the problem develops against the background of astigmatism, hyperopia or myopia. Then there is a chance with the use of just one glasses to eliminate the problem entirely. In other cases, glasses are either inappropriate or must be used in combination with other means to give the desired result.
• Medicinal products.Sometimes even ordinary eye drops can be effective, only their use is a little out-of-the-ordinary. They drip not on a sick eye, but on a healthy, artificially eroding image that he sees. Thus, drops are simply an alternative to a bandage. But many children do not want to wear the latter, so there is simply no way to do without drops.

Note that some drops have side effects (eg, eye irritation, redness around the eyes or headaches) that are important to consider.

• Surgical intervention.This is a fairly radical, but effective measure. Its essence is strengthening the muscles of the eye. Also, it can eliminate the underlying cause that caused amblyopia.

Complications

If the disease occurs in a chronic form, then it must be urgently begun to treat it, otherwise negative changes in visual acuity will take an irreversible form and subsequently will not be able to be adjusted.

The age at which approach to help a child with a chronic form of the disease is almost impossible - this is about 10-12 years. The brain can not simply use the diseased eye, no treatment can produce the proper result.

Prevention

Not all cases can be used to effectively prevent the problem, but you can prevent emergence of secondary amblyopia, if promptly to correct the diseases and abnormalities that her cause.For example, in a timely manner to combat the manifestations of hyperopia, myopia and other abnormalities.At the first suspicions on a problem it is necessary to visit urgently the ophthalmologist.

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conclusions

The lazy eye syndrome is not a sentence, but the longer it is delayed, the more difficult it will be to cope with it. To begin its treatment is necessary at the earliest signs and then the prognosis improves considerably - and there is a probability that one does not have to resort to radical methods of treatment. If you delay and do not turn in time to the doctor, then there is a chance to get an irreversible reduction in vision.

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