Bringing your child for a comprehensive optometric exam at Mills Eye Care can confirm or rule out amblyopia or lazy eye as well as other vision conditions that are not noticeable. Lazy eye is a vision development problem that prevents one or both eyes from focusing properly. Our eye doctor in Mooresville, NC, can perform the eye exam when the child is at least 6 months old and recommend lazy eye treatment to stimulate vision in the affected eye.

What Causes Amblyopia?

Any condition that obstructs clear vision or causes the brain to ignore visual messages from one or both eyes can cause amblyopia. Lazy eye usually develops in some children by age 8 due to poor development in visual acuity. The most common factors that lead to this type of vision impairment are:

    • Strabismus: The eyes are misaligned, do not move together, or turn inward, outward, upward, or downward.
    • Refractive errors: The eyes are unable to focus light properly on the retina leading to nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), or astigmatism—all known to cause blurred vision.
    • Deprivation or cloudy vision: Spots on the eye lenses such as cataract can blur vision in one eye, forcing the child to rely on the better eye.

Lazy Eye Signs and Symptoms

Eyes that don’t work as a team, favoring one eye, poor depth perception, and these other signs are common indicators of lazy eye:

    • Crossed eye
    • Squinting
    • Blurry vision
    • Tilting the head
    • One eye wanders away

Lazy Eye Treatment by Our Eye Doctor in Mooresville, NC

When making a diagnosis, we will assess eye alignment, eye movements, and the level of vision impairment in each eye. Our optometrist may then recommend one or a combination of these treatments to stimulate vision in the weaker eye.

    • Eyeglasses or Contact Lenses: These can be prescribed to correct refractive errors and provide clearer vision in both eyes.
    • Eye Patches: A specially-designed eye patch is worn for several hours a day directly over the stronger eye or on the eyeglass lens. This makes the child use the lazy eye, strengthens the eye muscles, forces the brain to receive visual messages from the weaker eye, and help with normal vision development.
    • Atropine Eye Drops: The drops will temporarily blur the vision in the stronger eye, forcing the brain to process the images seen by the amblyopic eye.
    • Surgery: May be necessary to align the eyes in the case of strabismic amblyopia. This can be followed up with eye patching and vision therapy to help both eyes work as a team.

Our eye doctor can help correct lazy eye before visual development is complete

Children, especially those with congenital cataracts, should receive lazy eye treatment early to aid normal visual development and prevent permanent vision loss. Feel free to schedule an eye exam at Mills Eye Care in Mooresville, NC, today by calling (704) 664-9121.