Lazy Eye Surgery

Today, probably one of the most popular procedures to correct vision is Lasik. Many people who are nearsighted, farsighted, or have astigmatism no longer need glasses.

Although these visual impairments are usually present at birth, most people don’t need visual aids until later years. However, there are some conditions that might be improved with therapy over time. In the meantime, more invasive options like lazy eye surgery are something worth consideration.

What is Lazy Eye?

Normally, both eyes work in tandem with one another. When one eye looks a specific direction, the other automatically does the same thing. Each eye shares the responsibility of seeing whatever is within the line of vision.

However, when a person has a lazy eye, the dominant eye does all of the work and the other is lazy. In fact, since the strong eye is doing all of the work, the one that is shirking normal vision duty doesn’t even learn to focus properly. In some cases, it literally shuts down, because the brain is sending all of the vision messages to the dominant eye. In others, the picture received by that eye is all blurry and out of focus. Corrective lenses cannot fix the problem. Glasses cannot alter the message that the brain is getting, or the one that it sends back. So, attempts are made to force the brain to send the appropriate signals to the lazy eye.

What Causes Lazy Eye

Lazy eye or amblyopia is caused by something that impairs the vision in one eye, during the first six years of life. The main causes include:

• Strambismus – is a condition where one eye wanders around, out of control, and cannot stay focused. The brain suppresses vision in that eye.
• Cataract – is when the lens is clouded by a growth. Surgical procedures can often correct this problem; then, the eye can be retrained to do its job.
• Trauma – any injury that causes the function of one eye to be suppressed can cause it to become lazy.
• Lid droop – obstructs vision in that eye. It is only natural that it should become lazy over time.
• Disabilities – neurological disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, can cause an eye to be lazy. The messages from the brain to the eye are interrupted, failing to provide the proper muscle control.

Lazy Eye Therapy

Although treatment can still help, whenever the problem is discovered, lazy eye therapy is most effective when begun on a small child. Usually, a patch is placed over the dominant eye. The hope is that the brain will then be forced to make a connection with the other eye. In the process, the muscles in that eye will become stronger. With practice, the vision will improve in clarity, and the eyes will begin to track together.

In the past, doctors made patients wear the patch for at least 8 hours a day. However, this can be pretty difficult, especially for kids still in school. The normal challenges of learning are complicated by visual acuity problems.

In recent years, doctors have discovered that the patch therapy also works, even if the strong eye is covered two or three hours each day. For some patients, it only takes a few months of therapy before the brain is trained to send messages to both eyes, and the muscles around the lazy eye have been strengthened.

Lazy Eye Surgery

In some cases, lazy eye therapy doesn’t work. There is simply too much going on with the brain to fix the problem by conventional means. However, the lazy eye seems to be all over the place. It looks so different that kids will wear their hair in a specific way as to cover up the bad eye.

So, doctors can perform lazy eye surgery. The muscles to the eye are cut, and the eye is repositioned to look more normal. Unless the message pathway between the eye and the brain has been strengthened, the organ will still be of little use. But, the aesthetic change can do a lot for the patient’s self esteem.

In summary, lazy eye is most commonly diagnosed in children. In other cases, it is due to some sort of trauma that shuts down the messages between the eye and the brain. Treatment is usually blocking the vision on the stronger eye, so the brain has to send messages to the weaker organ. In the past, this method of therapy was implemented for six to eight hours a day. However¸ recent studies show that two or three hours generally yield the same result. When therapy is ineffective, lazy eye surgery can be performed to realign the eye to a more normal position.