I have an Amblyopia... Does anyone have any information?

Question

i know when i was younger, my eye was patched... im not sure if that helped anything though.

i have glasses and contacts, but i have recently stopped using them both because one of my eye docters said that the patching couldnt have helped my eye because amblyopia cant be fixed/cured.

is this bad? and CAN it be helped now?

im almost 15, is it too late?

Answer 1

Unfortunately the information connections from the eye to the brain are formed at a very young age.  Amblyopia is usually caused by an eye turn.  This causes a child to have double vision and the brain will "shut off" the eye that is turned.  If left untreated, the vision in the turned eye will never develop properly and cannot be fixed later.  Basically the eye cannot be corrected to see 20/20.  

If treated early enough, with glasses, surgery, and/or patching, the turned eye can be "straightened" and those visual pathways can develop.  The eye may not have as good vision as the other eye, but it should be correctable with glasses to 20/20 or near it.

Another cause of amblyopia can be a significant refractive error in one eye.  The brain will also shut off that eye.

It sounds like in your case the patching didn't help unfortunately.  So one of your eyes probably has good vision and the other has bad vision (to put it simply).  The bad vision cannot be corrected, even with glasses, because the visual pathways were never formed correctly from that eye to your brain.  

If your good eye has a refractive error (nearsightedness or farsightedness), then you should still wear your glasses or contacts to get clear vision with that eye.

The best thing to do would to continue the discussion with your optometrist/ophthalmologist.  He or she will know more specifics about your situation.  I really don't think your vision in that eye can be helped now, but I hope I'm wrong.  Good luck.

Answer 2

What is Amblyopia (lazy eye)?

Amblyopia, commonly known as lazy eye, is the eye condition noted by reduced vision not correctable by glasses or contact lenses and is not due to any eye disease. The brain, for some reason, does not fully acknowledge the images seen by the amblyopic eye. This almost always affects only one eye but may manifest with reduction of vision in both eyes. It is estimated that three percent of children under six have some form of amblyopia.

Learn more and read the latest research at All About Amblyopia (Lazy Eye).

Treatment of Amblyopia

Early treatment is usually simple, employing glasses, drops, vision therapy, and/or eye patching. While detection and correction before the age of two is considered to offer the best outcomes, recent scientific research has disproven the long held belief that children over seven years old can not be successfully treated. See a press release at National Institutes of Health -- National Eye Institute.

While no recent scientific studies have been done on treatment of amblyopia after the age of 17, the optometrists in our network collectively report decades of clinical success with adult amblyopia. [This editor hopes for NEI studies on adult amblyopia and neuroplasticity].

Treatment of amblyopia after the age of 17 is not dependent upon age but requires more effort including vision therapy. Every amblyopic patient deserves an attempt at treatment.

To quote one of our members, Dr. Leonard J. Press, FAAO, FCOVD: "It's been proven that a motivated adult with strabismus and/or amblyopia who works diligently at vision therapy can obtain meaningful improvement in visual function. As my patients are fond of saying: "I'm not looking for perfection; I'm looking for you to help me make it better". It's important that eye doctors don't make sweeping value judgments for patients. Rather than saying "nothing can be done", the proper advice would be: "You won't have as much improvement as you would have had at a younger age; but I'll refer you to a vision specialist who can help you if you're motivated."

In conclusion, improvements are possible at any age, but early detection and treatment offer the best outcome. If not detected and treated early in life, amblyopia can cause a permanent loss of vision with associated loss of stereopsis (two eyed depth perception). Better vision screenings are needed for young children. The 20/20 eye chart screening is not adequate.

Amblyopia causes more visual loss in the under 40 group than all the injuries, and diseases combined in this age group.

Answer 3

My sister developed amblyopia as a result of being cross-eyed. Her condition wasn't detected until she was about seven years old. Despite attempts to improve the vision in her bad eye from patching and glasses, it never got any better. To this day, she can see out of the bad eye but the vision is very weak and she has poor depth perception.