What is Amblyopia?

Amblyopia, or commonly known as lazy eye, is decreased vision in one or both eyes due to abnormal development of vision in infancy or childhood.

Such abnormal development of vision occurs because nerve pathways between the brain and the eye aren’t properly stimulated, resulting the brain favours the good eye over the other (the bad eye).

What causes amblyopia?

Amblyopia usually developed when one eye only sees blurry images. As children typically developing their vision centre in their brain as they grew, such blurry images obstruct the normal visual development causing vision to decrease despite the normal appearance of the structures of the eyes.

The common causes of amblyopia include:

• Uncorrected high hyperopia (long-sightedness) in either one or both eyes (refractive amblyopia)
• Uncorrected high myopia (short-sightedness) in either one or both eyes (refractive amblyopia)
• Uncorrected high astigmatism in either one or both eyes (meridional amblyopia)
• Constant strabismus or crossed eyes – the brain will take up the images seen in the fixated eye and suppress the misaligned eye, leading to amblyopia.
• Ocular structure anomaly in childhood – droopy eyelid, cataract or corneal scar (deprivation amblyopia)

How can I know whether my child has amblyopia?

The easiest way is to bring him or her to the optometrist to have a complete vision test before school age to screen for any significant refractive error and eye misalignment even there is no vision compliant because in most cases, a child may not experience blurry vision if only one eye is bad. Therefore, amblyopia may develop unnoticed.

It is worthwhile to take note of any strange behaviour of your child such as:

• Abnormal head posture while viewing television
• Frown their eyes
• Complaining of headache
• Making mistakes while copying notes from the blackboard.

These may indicate blurry distance vision that may need immediate attention.

At Eyeplus Optometrist, we pride ourselves in the fact that we possess a wide range of diagnostic machines to make sure that we deliver the highest standard of eye care services in this industry.

For more information on eye health and eye conditions or to find your local Eyeplus Optometrist, click HERE.

          Having your child being diagnosed with myopia (short-sightedness) can be quite depressing and frustrated for most parents. Unfortunately, it is far more common these days to see a child wearing glasses during their preschool age compare to the older days.

           But why? Have you ever imagine that your child can be free from glasses one day? Or, at least wishing his or her power does not change (like… forever) and you will do whatever it takes?

Too Much Time Smartphones, Tablets and Homework!

          Since smartphones and tablets are becoming mainstream, I do notice that we spend more time every day in front of them either browsing webs or playing games.

          Consequently, I have heard many parents complaining that their children spend too much time on the phone and avoid outdoor activities at all. In addition, the hectic curriculum in this country is another reason why children are exposing to excessive near work these days.

          Huang et al did a research in 2015 to find the associations between near work activities and myopia and found that the odds of myopia are higher when more time is spent on near work activities.

           So, this gives rise to the idea of reducing near work to slow down or prevent myopia. Think about it, if this really works, why is that myopia prevalence is still riding high and even increasing over years?

A different strategy to treat myopia…

          While technology advancement and the increasing educational level is an inevitable situation, we could have focused on our work to slow down, or to prevent myopia from occurring at all.

          Conventionally, when a child has been diagnosed with myopia, glasses is almost being prescribed immediately. However, there are a number of approaches that we can employ to tackle myopic children in Eyeplus Optometrist. Below are the 6 ways to slow down myopia progression:

1.    Orthokeratology
2.    Multifocal Contact Lenses
3.    Multifocal Glasses (progressive additional lenses)
4.    Executive Bifocal Lenses
5.    Topical Atropine
6.    Lifestyle Changes

          It is worth noting that each of every strategy comes with pro and cons. Therefore, make sure that you have consulted our optometrist and understand well each of the treatment processes, commitment and budget involved before embarking either one.

source : PMC 

source of pics : Google.com

      OK镜，全称：Orthokeratology（角膜塑形术），简称Ortho K 。    

      OK镜是一种硬性透气性隐形眼镜——RGP（Rigid Gas Permeable contact lens. RGP），这类隐形眼镜需要个性化定制，专业性及针对性较强，只能在专业机构验配，因此尚未为广大民众熟知。

      OK镜有两大好处，第一是白天可以不用戴眼镜，视力清晰、方便，第二是长期配戴后可以延缓近视加深速度，（注意：是“延缓近视加深”，不是完全阻止，更不是把原有的近视治好）。   

• Dry eyes
• Tired eyes
• Headache
• Eye strain
• Loosing Concentration
• Blurred vision when changing focus from near to distant

Do symptoms above sounds familiar to you? Especially after a long period of computer and near work?  If so, you may have Computer vision syndrome (CVS).

What is Computer vision syndrome (CVS)?

In today’s info-overloaded world, it’s increasingly common for many of us to work on digital screens for hours, sending text messages, scrolling through Facebook newsfeeds, viewing Instagram photos and then relax by watching YouTube videos.

When you focus at small digital screens constantly, the eye’s internal lens accommodates MORE to maintain the focus at near.

Thus, causing the symptoms mentioned above as the eye muscles work harder.

What should I do?

• Have a comprehensive eye examination to rule out vision problems.
• Apply 20-20-20 rule to reduce eye strain.

What if the symptoms still persist? (Even though your glasses prescription are up-to-date? Or you do not have refractive error)

If so, you may consider getting Computer glasses, or Anti-fatigue Lens.

What is Anti-fatigue Lens?

It is a type of glasses designed to optimize vision and comfort during digital device use.

It enhanced for all your screen usage to help alleviate eye strain, keep your eyes comfortable, relaxed and protected.

To know more about Anti-fatigue lenses, please click HERE.

Conclusion

Computer vision syndrome (CVS) is becoming a very common problem in today’s digital age as most people are spending more than 11 hours in front of digital screens.

CVS should not be ignored as it is not only causing your vision problem, but also reducing your productivity throughout the whole day.

Source:     

• AOA.org

• allaboutvision.com