What is amblyopia?
Amblyopia, often known as lazy eye, is a specific kind of vision impairment that affects only 1 eye. It occurs when there is a breakdown in the interaction between the brain and the eyes, and the brain cannot recognize the sight coming from only one eye. The weaker eye’s vision gets impaired as the brain begins to rely more and more on the other, stronger eye.
Amblyopia/lazy eye may result from a number of eye disorders, including:
- Refractive errors. These include typical vision conditions including myopia (difficulty seeing distant objects), farsightedness (difficulty seeing distant objects), and myopia (which can cause blurry vision).
- Strabismic. The eyes typically move together. However, strabismic children’s eyes don’t line up. One eye may stray in, out, upward, or downward.
- Cataract. As a result, the eye’s lens becomes dark and objects appear blurry. While older people with cataracts are more likely to develop them, cataracts can also develop in children.
Common symptoms include:
- Squinting or closing one eye
- difficulty telling how close or far something is (depth perception)
- head tilting.
Also Read:
Refractive Errors: Meaning and Common Symptoms
