Amblyopia is an eye condition in which one eye is weaker than the other because the nerve pathway between the affected eye and the brain does not develop correctly in childhood. Amblyopia affects two to three out of every 100 children, according to a National Eye Institute essay, "Facts About Amblyopia." A child with amblyopia can usually see normally with one eye, but the eye affected by amblyopia may transmit only a blurry picture. If you or a loved one have amblyopia, keep in mind that eye exercises are not yet officially approved for amblyopia, but they are currently being studied as a possible treatment.
Amblyopia Causes
Amblyopia has several different causes. In a child with strabismus the weaker eye will face in a different direction from the stronger eye, a condition known as "crossed eyes" or "lazy eye." A child with anisometropia will have eyes that look outwardly normal, but one eye may be much more near-sighted or far-sighted than the other eye. Another cause of amblyopia are cataracts, cloudy spots inside the lens of the eye.
Amblyopia Treatments
A child with untreated amblyopia loses vision in the weaker eye, which may eventually go blind. Approved treatments include placing a patch over the good eye or using eye drops of a drug called atropine to blur the good eye's vision, so that the child will use the weaker eye. Surgery and eyeglasses will fix some amblyopia problems. Amblyopia eye exercises are not approved at this time, but there are studies indicating how they might develop.
Eye Exercises
While a number of amblyopia eye exercises exist, usually described as "vision therapy," health insurers often refuse to cover amblyopia eye exercises, stating that research on the subject is of poor quality. Organizations of eye doctors agree and have not yet approved these exercises. This attitude is changing. A 2010 study in "Current Biology," by Professor Teng Leng Ooi of Salus University and her colleagues found that using special eye exercises to strengthen a weaker eye works for adults who do not have amblyopia, and is a potentially effective treatment for children with amblyopia.
Push-Pull Exercises
Dr. Ooi and her colleagues have created a form of eye exercise called push-pull perceptual learning. This involves setting up a computer program which shows the weak eye a visual cue, such as a square, and then presents two slightly different pictures, one for each eye, such as a picture in which one eye views a series of vertical lines and the other eye sees a series of horizontal lines. If continued research proves that push-pull helps amblyopia, a version of the push-pull eye exercise will likely be made available to the public.
Video Game Exercises
Another study suggests that playing video games might help improve amblyopia. A 2007 study published by E. Tsitsiashvili of the Georgian National Center of Ophthalmology and Neurology in "Georgian Medical News," "Application of special computer programs for diagnostics and treatment of amblyopia," found that certain types of video games seemed to improve patients' amblyopia and that patients adhered to their treatment programs more willingly because they enjoyed the video games.
References
- National Eye Institute: Facts About Amblyopia
- MedlinePlus: Amblyopia
- Ohio Ambloype Registry: Detection of Amblyopia
- "Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine": Pathophysiology of Amblyopia...; A. Linksz; May 1962
- "Current Biology"; Effectively Reducing Sensory Eye Dominance; Teng Leng Ooi, Ph.D., et al., October 14, 2010
- Cigna Medical Coverage Policy: Vision Therapy/Orthoptics
