Lazy Eye

Vision Therapy for Lazy Eye – How Does It Work?

Lazy eye, a condition in which one eye lacks full visual acuity, affects up to five percent of all adults. Depth perception may also be undeveloped for lazy eye sufferers. Once only treatable in children, advances in optical technology have developed treatments for adults affected by lazy eye. 

The majority of treatment approaches focus on restoring vision in one eye. Vision therapy takes a different approach, focusing on the communications that take place between the two eyes and the brain. Read on as a Washington, DC vision therapy optometrist discusses lazy eye and how vision therapy helps to restore healthy visual functioning.

What Is Lazy Eye?

Lazy eye, also known as amblyopia, affects one eye, preventing normal development of visual acuity or 3D vision in the affected eye. Since the eyes work together with the brain to create images and perceptions, lazy eye is considered to be a neuro-developmental condition.

An imbalance in the muscles that position the eyes is the most common cause of amblyopia. The imbalance prevents your eyes from working together, causing them to cross or turn outward. 

Lazy eye also can develop as a result of other visual problems, including:

• Crossed eyes
• Farsightedness 
• Astigmatism
• Nearsightedness

Lazy Eye Symptoms

• Needing to squint or shut one eye to see clearly
• Frequent headaches
• One or both eyes wander inward or outward 
• Eyestrain
• Limited depth perception
• Needing to tilt your head to see clearly 
• Eye fatigue

Vision Therapy for Lazy Eye 

How It Works

With lazy eye, your brain compensates for the affected eye by relying more on the stronger eye. When this happens, the brain turns off signals or communications that come from the weaker eye. 

Vision therapy treatment works directly with the brain-eyes communication network, encouraging your brain to turn signals from the affected eye back on, while also encouraging both eyes to work together as a team. Since vision therapy treats the entire visual communications network, it delivers longer-lasting results than treatments that only work with the lazy eye.

Vision Therapy Treatments Used for Lazy Eye

Vision therapy uses a range of programs to treat lazy eye based on your specific treatment needs. Along with correcting lazy eye, vision therapy is effective at improving a range of visual-based processes, including reading fluency and brain-visual processing.

Here are just a few of the areas you and your vision therapy optometrist will work on:

• Eye-tracking
• Spatial skills
• Focusing
• Binocular vision or training the eyes to work together
• 3D vision exercises

If you have more questions or wish to schedule a consultation, call our Washington, DC vision therapy optometrist office today.