What is amblyopia?

  Amblyopia is a common eye disease in children that seriously affects the development of visual function and can affect the formation of normal vision in the future if not treated early. According to statistics, the prevalence of amblyopia is 2% to 4%, and there are 10 million amblyopic patients in China. Amblyopia is not only a clinical medical problem, but also a serious public health problem.  Amblyopia is a condition in which the eye itself is not organically diseased, but is essentially an abnormality in visual development, and cannot achieve normal visual acuity even after wearing glasses to correct vision. In recent years, the Strabismus and Pediatric Ophthalmology Group of the Ophthalmology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association has revised the diagnostic criteria for childhood amblyopia: children under 3 years of age have visual acuity below 0.5; from 4 to 5 years of age, below 0.6 to 7 years of age, below 0.7; or the visual acuity of both eyes differs by more than 2 lines.  If a child’s visual acuity is not below the lower limit of normal visual acuity for children of the same age, and the difference between the two eyes is less than two rows, and no risk factors for amblyopia are found, it is not advisable to make a hasty diagnosis of amblyopia, and it can be listed as a subject of observation.  Amblyopia is a major hazard to children’s visual function, not only resulting in low vision that cannot be corrected, but also in the absence of monocular vision in both eyes. As a result, children with amblyopia are not able to choose to learn stereoscopic color arts such as calligraphy and painting, and will not be able to perform driving, mapping, or fine work in the future.