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Five-Year-Old with Lazy Eye
Tiffany wrote:
My 5 year old daughter has a lazy eye - her right eye turns in. She was first diagnosed at 2 1/2 and has been wearing glasses since then. She has been wearing bi-focals for over 1 year and we have been patching for almost 2 years on and off. For 4 months in the summer she patched 4 hours per day! We have tried the drops in the eyes with no improvement and now are back to patching for 4 hours during the week and as long as she can stand it on the weekends. My question is can anymore be done in addition to patching? I have been told by various doctors that she has a very stubborn case and the suppression is quite strong. Are there vision or other therapies that are being used? Thanks in advance for your help.
Dr. Sally Aldayeh's response:
Hello Tiffany,
Many people make the mistake of saying that a person who has a crossed or turned eye has a “lazy eye,” but amblyopia (LAZY EYE) and strabismus (EYE TURN) are not the same condition. Eye turn, however, can cause lazy eye. In other words, amblyopia can result from an eye that turns all of the time. An eye turn which occurs only some of the time rarely causes amblyopia (lazy eye).
While an eye turn (strabismus) can be easily spotted, amblyopia (lazy eye) without strabismus (eye turn) can be not noticed by either you or your pediatrician.
Due to misunderstanding or misuse of the terms for different visual conditions (i.e., deviating eyes vs. lazy eye), many people are inaccurately labelled as having a “lazy eye.”
The best treatment for an eye turn which is not CONSTANT is full time prescription wear, plus Vision therapy and orthoptics. Vision therapy and orthoptics is directed towards muscle strengthening. Treating a lazy eye, usually done with full time wear of prescription, drops, vision therapy and/or patching. Good luck
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