Conservative and surgical treatment of amblyopia
Amblyopia ("lazy eye") – decrease in visual acuity of a functional nature. The cause of the disease – the brain does not perceive the image coming from the weak eye. Without timely diagnosis and treatment of this pathology, the child's vision in the amblyopic eye may decrease significantly. The diagnosis of "amblyopia" put when a difference in visual acuity between the eyes is detected, which is not associated with another pathology. The main causes of amblyopia – anisometropia (difference in refraction of the right and left eye), strabismus, cataract, visual deprivation.
Amblyopia in children
Usually, the disease develops in children under the age of eight. With amblyopia, the visual area of the cerebral cortex suppresses the image coming from the weak eye. The visual system develops normally only if the brain receives a clear, focused image from both eyes at the same time.
Amblyopia in children is often asymptomatic. As a rule, the pathology is detected during a routine ophthalmological examination. Babies do not understand that the vision of their right and left eye is different. Therefore, if parents notice that the child closes one eye or looks sideways, you should immediately consult a doctor.
Ophthalmological examination is recommended for all children of preschool age. One of the screening methods – light test In older children, visual acuity is determined using pictures or Snellen visual charts (tables). Additional testing is performed to identify the cause of the disease. The diagnosis of "anisometropia" put after refractometry. Strabismus is determined using a simple test with alternating closing/opening of the eyes. Read more about strabismus in children on our website https://dobrobut.com/
The degree of the disease is determined depending on the decrease in visual acuity. Degrees of amblyopia:
- very weak (0.8–0.9);
- weak (0.5–0.7);
- average (0.3–0.4);
- high (0.05–0.2);
- very high (below 0.05).
How to treat amblyopia
Treatment of amblyopia is aimed at eliminating the cause of the disease. Correction of refractive error, strabismus correction, cataract removal, and so on are carried out. It is important to know that amblyopia does not disappear as the child grows older, so the earlier the treatment is started, the more effective it is. In children older than 10-12 years, the treatment does not give the desired result.
Conservative therapy of anisometropic amblyopia includes vision correction, as well as medication and optical penalization – artificial deterioration of the vision of the dominant eye. For this, specially selected glasses and atropine sulfate solution are used. At the same time, the visual acuity of the healthy eye decreases, as a result of which the work of the amblyopic eye is activated. During the period of use of penalty glasses, you should load "lazy" eye. Invite your child to put together puzzles, draw or watch an interesting cartoon. This method of treating amblyopia – that rare case when modern gadgets will become assistants: the child is fascinated by a game or watching cartoons and is not annoyed by special glasses. Amblyopia therapy is carried out until the visual acuity of both eyes becomes approximately the same.
For obscuration amblyopia, cataract surgery – optimal method of treatment. In the case of dysbinocular amblyopia, surgical correction of strabismus is indicated. Excimer laser refractive surgery (LASIK) – a safe and highly effective method of treating amblyopia in adults.
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