so what is lazy eye What Exactly does it mean and what causes it. join me in this
video as I help you better understand this common eye disease let's take a
look. hello and welcome this is Dr. Allen here from the doctor eye health show
helping you learn all about the eyes and vision and if you're new here to the
channel and you like taking care of your eyes and seem your best then definitely
hit that subscribe button down below so that you don't miss any of my future
videos now I'm excited today to be talking
about lazy eye because not only is it just one of the most requested video
topics I've ever had but because it is one of the more complex eye conditions
that's out there and therefore sometimes pretty difficult for people to grasp the
medical term for lazy eye is pronounced amblyopia and despite people calling it
lazy eye it's really not much of a problem with the eye at all as it is an
issue with the brain and how the brain has learned to appreciate and see vision
with the affected eye so it's really much more of a neurological condition
having a lazy eye or amblyopia means that the affected eye is not able to see
20/20 or just very well in general often times leaving one eye to see very clear
and sharp while the other eye sees everything very blurry and that's even
with the very best optical correction that means not with glasses or with
contacts and a lot of people will ask hey could I just get LASIK to correct
for my lazy eye and unfortunately no that doesn't work either because it's
not really again a problem with the eye as it is a problem with the visual
processing centers of the brain to better understand how lazy eye is a
neurological issue consider how people are right and
left-handed I myself am extremely right hand dominant and that's because at a
young age I started using my right hand to do all of my activities and over
years my brain started to develop more neural connections to strengthen my
right hand now my left hand still functions and works great but the part
of my brain that controls hand movement for my left hand simply just doesn't
have as many neural connections as my right hand therefore leaving my right
hand to be very right hand dominant and that same concept is at play when it
comes to lazy eye meaning if somebody is unable to see clearly early in life as
the rain is developing then it'll never
develop as many neural connections as the good better seeing eye and may never
fully learn the potential to see clearer vision now a very important concept with
lazy eye is that when we are young our brain is said to be more plastic that
means that our brain has more of ability to grow change and learn when we are
children and that means that children who go through some sort of treatment
for lazy eye or amblyopia often see better results than people who are much
older now with that being said there are plenty of reported cases of adults going
through treatment for their lazy eye and still having some improvement but again
it is much more difficult and usually don't see it that often especially in
extreme cases before we go over the different causes of amblyopia let me
know in the comments if you yourself have lazy eye or maybe you know someone
who does what has been your experience with it I'd love to know
now lazy eye can be caused by having a few different ailments with the eyes
most commonly people will think of lazy eye is somebody having an eye turn where
the I may turn inward toward the nose or maybe it'll turn outward away from the
other eye and in the clinic we call that having strabismus and in cases of this
wandering eye oftentimes that person may see double for a short period of time
but the brain will often adapt starting to suppress or shut off that wandering
eyes so that they can focus better with the good eye and in those cases it's the
same thing their brain starts to develop more neurological connections with the
good better seeing eye therefore resulting in amblyopia and although this
happens more rarely children who are born with congenital cataracts or have
some other ocular deformity that includes their vision they can also
develop a severe form of amblyopia as well oftentimes amblyopia will develop
due to uncorrected refractive error and we call that refractive amblyopia and
that is where somebody will have an eye that just isn't being corrected with
glasses or contacts at a young age and the difference between those two eyes
will cause the brain again to develop a more neural connections for the better
seeing eye leaving the weaker eye to kind of fall behind this can occur due
to nearsightedness farsightedness and astigmatism it could happen in just
one eye or both eyes in extreme cases most often though we see it in children
who have an eye that is more hyper Opik or farsighted than the other eye and
unfortunately it does not take that much of a difference to end up with this type
of amblyopia even more unfortunate is that small children do not speak up to
their parents about having poor eyesight they just haven't learned what good
vision really is and isn't and how often do you see a kid walking around testing
their vision between their right and left eyes it just doesn't happen and
that's one of the reasons why it's recommended that young children have an
eye examination with an eye care professional between the ages of 6 and
12 months of life again around the age of 3 and then again around the age of 5
or 6 or before entering kindergarten or sooner if a doctor recommends and that's
important because children who are identified with this condition can be
treated and treatment is better when it's performed earlier hey if this video
helped you better understand lazy eye or amblyopia go ahead and hit that like
button for me if you'd like to learn a little bit more on how to treat
amblyopia or fix it lazy eye then go ahead and click or tap the screen over
here to the side and check out my next video or if you'd like to see another
cool video here from dr. eye health go ahead and click or tap the screen down
over here again this is dr. Allen here from the dr. eye health she'll help you
learn all about the eyes and vision keep an eye on it we'll talk to you soon