[Amblyopia treatment characteristics].
Long duration. It requires: patient persistence of the child and patient supervision of the parents; regular review.
What happens if amblyopia is not treated after detection?
If amblyopic children are not detected and treated early, it will lead to low vision in one or both eyes, which will seriously affect their visual function and make them stereo blind for life.
What are the practical ways to treat amblyopia? O Yuebo, Ophthalmology Department, Xianyang Central Hospital
There are traditional masking method + home fine visual work; posterior image therapy; red light flicker method; suppression therapy; grating stimulation method; graded visual acuity training; disinhibition training; tertiary functional training, brain training, etc.
How to review children with amblyopia?
Usually a review is done once every 3 months to 6 months. During the review, we need to check the bare eye vision, refraction, corrected vision, eye position, binocular vision function and so on. If the refractive error changes significantly, you should get a new prescription.
The neglected eye disease – amblyopia in children
Amblyopia is one of the eye diseases that endanger the visual development of children and adolescents. Due to the limitation, ophthalmology knowledge is not popular in China, so preschool children can’t have vision checkups in time or the checkups are inaccurate, and parents can hardly detect amblyopia in one or both eyes, thus missing the best age for treating amblyopia. The development of binocular vision is generally perfected at the age of 6-8 years old, so parents should have their children’s vision checked accurately during early childhood.
Amblyopia is divided into: strabismic amblyopia, refractive amblyopia, refractive error amblyopia, deprivation amblyopia, and masked amblyopia. After a child is diagnosed with amblyopia, he or she should wear corrective lenses and undergo amblyopia treatment under the guidance of a doctor.
The best age for amblyopia treatment is preschool age. Treatment is divided into two broad categories: one is to improve visual acuity, and the other is to restore binocular vision. There are various methods of treatment that play a key role in the recovery of amblyopia in children. Because the eye continues to develop during childhood, it is important to perform regular refractive examinations along with treatment and to give children with amblyopia appropriate corrective lenses. The checkups usually last for six months or one year.
How can parents detect visual defects in young children?
Based on daily observation: seeing things close; nystagmus; abnormal head position (oblique); squinting at TV; loneliness; the phenomenon of “blindness” (infants around 3 months of age do not look at the target and do not turn their eyes in response to the movement of people or objects). In these cases, abnormal vision should be suspected. Of course, you can also go to the hospital for examination.
Why should amblyopia be detected early?
Amblyopia is mainly formed at the age of 1 to 3 years old, so in principle, the earlier the amblyopia is treated, the better. However, since the vision of the good eye is still poor and not well developed within 6 months, even if the amblyopia is not treated by masking, otherwise it will easily cause amblyopia in the good eye. Generally speaking, the appropriate age for masking is from 3 to 6 years old, and the effect is very poor over 8 years old, and it is difficult to achieve results for those who are over 12 years old. However, due to advances in modern science and amblyopia treatment methods, the effective age of treatment may be extended.
The older the age of amblyopia treatment, the better, or the younger the better?
Many parents believe that amblyopia should be treated after school, when the child understands and can easily cooperate with treatment. Amblyopia treatment is closely related to age, and the younger the child, the better the results. Some studies have shown that the critical period is within 2 years old, the sensitive period is before 8 years old, and the effect of treatment is doubtful after 12 years old. Treatment after adulthood has little or no effect.
How should parents guide their children to treat amblyopia?
1, to fully understand that the process of amblyopia treatment is slow, vision is gradually improved, so parents should not be too hasty, have patience, persistence.
2. Be patient and persuade your child to insist on wearing glasses. Except for bathing and sleeping, you must insist on wearing glasses, especially when covering the healthy eye, which is very important, and the mirror legs should be connected with a chain to prevent the glasses from breaking.
3.Guide your child to wear glasses when looking at near objects, especially when drawing and writing, so that you can often achieve a multiplier effect.
4.For children with moderate or severe amblyopia, in addition to wearing glasses, insist on amblyopia training treatment at the hospital. Parents who apply amblyopia stimulator (CAM) should encourage their children to draw pictures carefully and try to draw accurately.
Children aged 2 to 3 years old should have their eyes examined every two weeks, while older children should have their eyes examined every month, and their eyes should be dilated once a year.
In short, due to the young age of children, poor self-control and other factors, it is very important for parents to be patient and guide their children to treatment.
Can amblyopia be treated by simply wearing glasses?
No. When there is refractive error, of course, glasses are needed, but more importantly, amblyopia training is needed.
Can children with amblyopia watch TV?
Children with amblyopia can watch TV with accurate glasses.
What should amblyopic children pay attention to in terms of diet?
Diet has little effect on the vision of amblyopic children, as long as they are not picky eaters, eat more coarse grains and fresh fruits and vegetables, increase protein intake and take vitamin supplements when necessary.
Is putting a piece of black paper in front of the glasses the purpose of eye coverage?
Putting a piece of black paper in front of the glasses does not achieve the purpose of eye shielding, because the light can still enter the eyes from the side, which does not achieve the purpose of training the affected eyes. The correct way to cover the eye is to use a black cloth as the outer layer and a red cloth as the inner layer to make a simple eye shield that completely covers the healthy eye and prevents light from entering the healthy eye, and then wear glasses outside the eye shield.
Can babies and children be covered for a long time?
No. It can cause visual deprivation amblyopia. It can cause visual deprivation amblyopia.
After treatment, should I stop treatment if my vision returns to normal?
Many parents think they can stop treating their children’s amblyopia when their vision returns to normal after treatment. The restoration of normal vision in the amblyopic eye is only the first step of treatment, and later there is training for monocular, fusion and stereo vision.
Will illness or medication during pregnancy affect the child’s vision?
It may affect, for example: viral infection; malnutrition; alcoholism; drugs.