Amblyopia is a disorder that practically never arises on its own. It is a disorder which is triggered by an underlying pathology that defines the type of amblyopia. Whilst the impairment of visual function as well as amblyopia treatment may be similar regardless of amblyopia type, it is important to differentiate them so that each type can be addressed as effectively as possible. Thus, we shall briefly discuss different types of amblyopia in today’s blog.
Deprivation amblyopia
This is arguably the rarest and most severe form of amblyopia. It arises when visual axis is obstructed early in the development of vision – usually within the first months on one’s life. Various causes include ptosis, corneal opacities, and congenital cataract. The treatment depends on the cause (ptosis correction, cataract extraction, etc) and must be initiated early in order to prevent permanent impairment of vision.
Anisometropic (refractive) amblyopia
This type of amblyopia arises due to unrecognized refractive differences between the two eyes – anisometropia. It is arguably the most frequent type of amblyopia and unfortunately, the hardest one to recognize, as the eyes of children with anisometropia appear perfectly normal to the naked eye. With a notable difference in refractive power between the two eyes, one retina gets a much clearer image than the other, which leads to the development of amblyopia in the eye with the lesser image quality. Thankfully, the treatment is usually simple and effective. Some children will respond to correct refractive correction alone, others will benefit from the addition of patching, penalization and/or vision training.
Strabismic lazy eye
As prevalent as the anisometropic type, this type of amblyopia arises due to misalignment of the two eyes – strabismus. Reasons that cause the eyes to deviate vary and a strabismus specific treatment such as specialized prism glasses or surgery is often needed to address the issue thoroughly. Whether the amblyopia specific treatment should be initiated before, during, or after managing the cause of strabismus is usually decided on an individual basis.
Although different types of amblyopia are treated differently – according to the cause – any type of amblyopia can benefit immensely from vision training such as Amblyoplay. In light of the current situation due to COVID-19 pandemics, it is now perhaps an ideal time to start using our product from the safety of your own home.
P.S.: If you are not completely new to our website you will know that much of today’s blog’s topic has already been discussed extensively in some of our past contributions. Should you be interested to find out more about every particular matter please follow the links provided in the text.
