Amblyopia or lazy eye represents the most common eye condition of the child. It is defined as a low vision of one or both eyes and we are talking about the visual acuity with the best correction. The person does not see up to the last row with the ideal lens in front of his/her eye.


Causes and prevention

The main cause of amblyopia is the fact that the eye does not receive a clear image during the most important period of retinal development, namely under the age of 6, of which the essential period is up to 2 years. The most common circumstances during which this happens are: the high dioptres with which the child is born, the difference in dioptre between the two eyes, the strabismus that makes one of the eyes to be used more than the other, all congenital disorders or which occurred in the first years of life affecting the transparency of the cornea, the crystalline, the retinal integrity, the optic nerve or the eye in general.

There are several types of amblyopia but what is important is that it sets in in childhood, can be prevented and treated with maximum efficiency only at the age of childhood, under the age of 6 but there are also cases of amblyopia difficult or impossible to recover under the age of 3.

Amblyopia can be prevented by visual screening at an early age and by directing risky cases to the ophthalmologist.

At Oftapro, children can be examined from the first days of life!

Make an appointment

Treatment options

Once installed, amblyopia is treated by:

  • Correction of refractive errors (correction of dioptres) with glasses or contact lenses
  • Elimination of causes which do not allow the eye to receive the image (e.g. cataract surgery, severe ptosis or congenital glaucoma)
  • Good eye coverage (occlusion) with patch /occlusor a number of hours / day depending on the severity of the amblyopia and the age of the child
  • Atropinisation, namely the instillation of atropine 1%, a substance that dilates the pupil and blurs the vision of the good eye to stimulate the sick
  • Bangerter filter– adhesive foils that can be applied on the lens of the glasses on the good eye so that the amblyopic one is used more intensely
  • Drug treatments which have proven effective in various studies such as carbamazepine but also supplements such as citicoline which is free of side effects but which is used ONLY as an adjunctive treatment to occlusion / filter / atropinisation
  • Computer exercises to stimulate the weak eye as an adjunctive treatment
  • AmbliZ glasses, glasses that allow the sequential occlusion of the good eye, allowing a better acceptance of the child. However, these glasses have not been approved as a safe means of treatment in amblyopia but can be used in certain particular situations, especially when the occlusion could not be implemented in any form and the child is allergic to atropine.

REMEMBER THAT: the treatment of amblyopia is personalized according to many factors (severity, age of the child, compliance, etc.) and that all these means can be used in combination or successively in the treatment of a child’s amblyopia but that OCCLUSION remains the basic tool, at least during the initiation of the treatment for amblyopia.

Follow-up treatment of amblyopia and recovery of vision is done at very short intervals at an early age because there is a risk that a properly monitored occlusion will affect the good eye at longer intervals as the child grows and the amblyopia recovers.

Even after recovery, the occlusion or filter must be maintained for a long time because there is a risk of recurrence, greater in case of a deeper amblyopia. After the age of 9-10 years old, the risk of recurrence is very low.


Treating Amblyopia at Oftapro

All these means of treatment exist in Oftapro which has a very long experience in this field, their combination and individualization of the treatment leading to an extremely high success rate.

However, we consider that the secret of success is the close COLLABORATION between THE DOCTOR, THE PARENT AND THE CHILD.