Things to know about amblyopia (amblyopia)

Currently, amblyopia rate (amblyopia) accounts for about 2-2.5% of the population. However, the initial manifestations of amblyopia are often unclear, only when one of the eyes or both eyes is damaged, gradually deteriorating the vision the patient will notice them. And in case of amblyopia both eyes, blindness rate is up to 3.3%. Let's find out what you need to know about amblyopia!

What is amblyopia (amblyopia)?

Amblyopia ( amblyopia ) is a medical term used to describe the functionally impaired function of the visual organ that usually occurs in young children. Children with amblyopia have poor vision in one or both eyes but can be cured if diagnosed early and properly treated.

Patients with amblyopia when vision is below 7/10 or vision difference between left and right eye is above 2/10. Visual impairment due to abnormal visual function, because the retina is not stimulated or due to the development of incomplete vision in the brain. Therefore, amblyopia can lead to permanent blindness and currently amblyopia accounts for about 2-2.5% of the population.

The danger of amblyopia is but the initial manifestations of amblyopia are not clear until one of the eyes or both eyes is damaged, gradually deteriorating the patient's vision to see them and cases of amblyopia. Both blindness rates of up to 3.3%.

What is amblyopia?

Disadvantages are poor eyesight due to incomplete vision development in the brain, because the human brain always requires visual stimulation for full development. Anything that interferes with vision in one of the eyes from birth to age 8 can cause amblyopia.

Common causes of amblyopia include nearsightedness and farsightedness , astigmatism , squint or any other obstruction of the vision of one eye (such as eyelid, congenital cataract, for example) . Amblyopia usually affects only one eye, but if both eyes lose clear vision for a long time, amblyopia may develop in both eyes.

Medical experts recommend that immediately after detecting the manifestations of amblyopia, patients need to go to the nearest medical facility for early diagnosis and diagnosis. In case the patient is a young child, newly infected, the treatment process will bring more efficiency. Furthermore, early diagnosis increases the likelihood of successful treatment, if detecting amblyopia after eight years of age can be incurable and permanent. Conversely, if your child does not suffer from amblyopia at the age of eight, your child is unlikely to have this amblyopia.

How to diagnose amblyopia?

All children should have their eyes checked before school age. Often children with amblyopia do not complain about poor vision and this problem is only found when checking eyesight in both eyes or regular eye exams at school. Sometimes parents must also pay attention to the child's squint if one side of the eye appears to be skewed. If the child has strabismus or has abnormalities in the eyes, the patient's parents can easily recognize them and take them to the doctor.

With one of the above conditions ( such as squint, eyelid, or blockage of the vision axis ), the doctor needs a periodic general check of the child's amblyopia . Therefore, it is important to have the attention and attention of parents to their children and should give children regular eye exams in a systematic way to be able to detect and intervene promptly. eye problems.

Amblyopia treatment?

The most common method of treating amblyopia is to force your child's brain to use the weak eye . First, the doctor will examine and treat potential internal problems such as nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism. If vision is abnormal, children will often need to wear appropriate glasses . Moreover, children should be encouraged to use amblyopia. This is done by treating or covering eyes normally for many hours during the day . This treatment takes a few months, sometimes several years, and is often more effective if treatment is started early. If amblyopia is detected too late (after 8 years), it is not possible to completely change the vision damage. Therefore, it is important that you take your child to the test if you or the school's health care department suspects or discovers the possibility of amblyopia.

The goal of treatment is to provide the best vision possible for amblyopia, which allows the child to use both eyes simultaneously and is the basis for the development of binocular vision improvement. To achieve that goal, in addition to treating the causes of diseases in the eyes, the treatment of amblyopia mainly stimulates the use of amblyopia with different methods such as wearing glasses, covering the eyes, and correcting photosensitivity. or surgery, depending on the doctor's appointment for each specific case.

Remember that amblyopia treatment should be done as soon as possible. The factors that determine the success of treatment are the understanding and coordination of parents, the age of the child, the degree of amblyopia as well as the associated eye diseases. In addition, amblyopia should be noted after treatment since it still requires long-term monitoring to prevent amblyopia.

If your eyesight is mild, your doctor may suggest using a drop of eye drops called atropine, blurring your eyes so that your child does not need to wear a patch.

If squint prevents the movement of the eyes together, the doctor may recommend surgery on the eye muscles. In addition, you can ask more about the best treatments.

Long-term treatments

With early diagnosis and treatment, most young children can be treated permanently. Amblyopia becomes more difficult if treated after age 7-9, so make sure your child gets the eye exam as soon as possible. Remember to follow your doctor's instructions during treatment even when it is most difficult to treat. Most children don't want to wear a patch on their eyes every day, so ask your doctor if you can use atropine instead!