Amblyopia is an eye condition that occurs in children when one eye has a better ability to focus than the other eye. The child's developing brain will ignore the eye producing the blurrier image and as a result, vision doesn't develop properly in that eye. Amblyopia is also sometimes caused by strabismus, in which one eye turns inward or outward and the eyes don't focus together. The brain will then ignore information from the deviating eye, and as a result vision loss will occur in that eye.
Eye exercises can help those with amblyopia to stimulate the vision center of the brain and to improve the function of the weaker eye. These exercises are most effective when done in early childhood while the brain is still developing and vision in the weaker eye has not yet greatly deteriorated.
Eye Patching
Wearing an eye patch is the most common form of treatment for amblyopia and is a form of visual exercise in of itself. By covering the stronger eye with a patch, the weaker eye is forced to do the work of seeing and therefore must communicate with the brain. Since the brain generally favors the stronger eye, the opportunity for the weaker eye to communicate with the brain strengthens it. The eye patch also helps to strengthen the muscles of the weaker eye.
Different visual acuity and strengthening exercises can be performed while the eye is patched in order to further increase the benefit of eye patching.
Perception Exercises
Visual perception skills are needed in order to understand, analyze, and interpret the world around us. Visual discrimination, which is part of visual perception, allows us to distinguish objects from each other. Puzzle games in which the child is asked to identify differences between two pictures are used to improve visual discrimination.
Another component of perception, visual closure, is the ability to visualize a whole picture when information is left out. This skill means our brain doesn't need to separately process every individual detail to understand what we are seeing. Performing exercises in which a child is given an incomplete picture and then asked to recognize the object represented helps to improve visual closure.
Tracking Exercises
Tracking skills refer to deliberate movements carried out by the oculomotor system that allows to follow objects with our eyes and to not lose our place on a page of text. Tracking can be improved by exercises that encourage a child to follow a moving target with her eyes, even if the target jumps or there are visual distractions in the background. In addition, some tracking exercises focus on improving the ability of the child to accurately make jumps from one target object to another.
Focusing Exercises
The ability of our eyes to focus is crucial to seeing clearly. Focus is required in order to see clearly up close, for instance, while reading and in order to focus on an object in the distance. Focus is also required to shift quickly from looking at something up close to something far away. You can improve her focusing skills by taking a chart of numbers and moving it close and away quickly, with emphasis placed on getting your eyes to focus quickly on the numbers with each shift. In addition, you can improve long-distance focus by picking an object in the far distance that is slightly blurry to you and concentrating on it until it becomes more clear.
