Amblyopia, also known as lazy eye or drifting eye, is a visual development disorder that typically
begins in infancy or early childhood. Patients with lazy eye can have impaired vision in one or
both eyes because the lazy eye does not stay focused. Although only one eye is usually affected,
overall vision can suffer.
Dr. Emily Shortridge is our fellowship-trained Pediatric Ophthalmologist who treats lazy eye in
Phoenix.
Symptoms of Lazy Eye
- Wandering eye
- Crossed eyes (strabismus)
- Squinting
- Tilting of the head to see
- Poor depth perception
Causes of Lazy Eye
If the visual signals and focus in one eye are not clear, the good eye will take over the vision
process and ignore the other eye. The lazy eye will become weak and vision in that eye will
suffer. There are a number of reasons why lazy eye can occur:
- Different refractive errors in each eye
- Misalignment of the eyes
- Imbalance of eye muscles (strabismus)
- Droopy eyelids (ptosis)
- Cataracts
Treatment for Lazy Eye in Phoenix
Prescription glasses typically will not correct amblyopia. Instead, a simple patch treatment to
force the brain to use the weak eye is very effective. The strong eye is covered with a patch so
the weak eye must work hard to allow clear vision. This process may take weeks or months; it’s
important to follow your doctor’s instructions to achieve the quickest results.
We recommend that parents start our lazy eye treatment before age 8 while the visual system is
still developing. Any vision loss due to lazy eye after this age may be permanent.
Contact us today at (480) 994-5012 to schedule your child’s pediatric eye exam or to learn more
about our eye care for children.