Why Treat Amblyopia?

Why Treat Amblyopia?

 

Impaired vision in both eyes does pose a threat

to life in countries without a well-developed

system of health and social care [26].While amblyopia

can affect both eyes in such conditions

as bilateral congenital cataracts and bilateral

high refractive errors, usually amblyopia only

affects the vision in one eye, usually as a result

of constant strabismus or unilateral refractive

errors.

 

There is no evidence that unilateral amblyopia

affects duration of life.

The potential effects of poor vision in one

eye on quality of life include reduced binocular

visual acuity and reduced binocular cooperation,

causing for example reduced stereoacuity.

These effects will vary depending on the degree

of amblyopia with, for example an acuity of 6/9

in the amblyopic eye, causing much less disability

than an amblyopic eye with an acuity of

6/60.Visual acuity in the majority of amblyopic

eyes is 6/12 or better. This said, it would seem

that most adults with amblyopia are less affected

by their long-standing impairment of acuity

than adults who have recently suffered a loss of

acuity.

 

            There is little evidence that unilateral amblyopia

significantly affects quality of life provided

vision in the normal eye remains good. Children

with amblyopia have been found to have

slightly reduced intelligence in one study.

however this may have been confounded by

the effect of strabismus as a marker for subtle

neurodevelopmental defects. The same study

concluded that the majority of visual defects

did not affect children’s learning. Chua and

Mitchell, in a recent study from the Blue Mountains

Eye Study found that amblyopia in

individuals 49 years or older did not affect lifetime

occupational class, but that fewer individuals

with amblyopia completed university degrees.

Assuming normal vision in the fellow eye,

reduced binocular visual acuity may result

either from the loss of an additive effect of two

normally seeing eyes or from temporary or permanent

loss of acuity in the normal eye.

        Temporaryloss of acuity in the normal eye may occur

as a result of pathology, such as a corneal abrasion,

or trauma. This may be the reason why

reduction in unilateral visual acuity precludes

individuals from such professions as the fire

service and armed forces .

        The reasoning behind

this may be in that such occupations there

is a risk of trauma to one eye during the course

of dangerous duties which would put the life of

the individual at risk because they would then

be relying on the vision in the amblyopic eye. It

is difficult to comment on whether these risks

are theoretical rather than actual as there is

little information on the subject.

 

 

 

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