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Lazy Eye
Treatment and Detection of Amblyopia
By Jenn Director Knudsen
Though in use for a number of years now, vision therapy is a somewhat controversial practice, according to experts like Dr. Jonathan Song, director of Children's Hospital Los Angeles' Cornea and Refractive Surgery Center and assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Southern California. "There is no good study that proves that it works, just anecdotal evidence," he says. "In addition, it is quite expensive. For these reasons I do not recommend it to my patients." But, Dr. Song adds, "If the patient seeks it out I do not discourage [him]; I usually tell them it might not help, but will not hurt."
Another treatment sometimes prescribed is atropine drops. These are put into a child's good eye. They dilate the pupil, causing blurred vision. The idea is to relegate the brain to using only the "lazy" eye and trying to focus it. But this method, too, is controversial, as the drops can last up to three days, and it's uncertain the long-term effects on the good eye, Dr. Neigel says.
And surgical procedures, such as LASIK and others performed to treat a crossed or wandering eye, are considered either a tad experimental or only for use in extreme cases. (Dr. Neigel notes that surgery is not used to correct ambloypia; it's used to correct problems that could be occurring in conjunction with lazy eye.)
Meanwhile, the prospect for the vast majority of children with amblyopia is quite good. Roughly only five of 10,000 kids who stick to "conventional treatment" suffer lifelong visual impairment, according to a recent report by Dr. Jonathan M. Davidorf, medical director of Davidorf Eye Group and assistant clinical professor at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute.