How does amblyopia develop in children?

Many people may not understand what causes amblyopia in children. There are many reasons for amblyopia in children, such as form deprivation amblyopia, strabismus amblyopia, and anisometropia amblyopia, which are all key problems that affect children's vision.

1. Form deprivation amblyopia:

In infancy, amblyopia can be caused by opacities in the refractive media (congenital or traumatic cataracts, corneal opacities), complete ptosis, iatrogenic eyelid sutures, and long-term indiscriminate covering of the affected eye to treat external eye diseases or covering the dominant eye to treat amblyopia. This type of amblyopia caused by insufficient light stimulation entering the eyeball, depriving the macula of the opportunity to receive normal light stimulation, resulting in visual impairment, is called deprivation amblyopia, also known as form deprivation amblyopia. This type of amblyopia is more serious than other clinical types.

2. Strabismus amblyopia:

Normally, the visual axes of both eyes are parallel, and the two eyes are kept focused on the center of the macula, so that binocular single vision can be achieved. After strabismus occurs, the visual axes of the two eyes are not parallel, and the image of the same object cannot fall on the corresponding points of the retinas of the two eyes at the same time. The two images on the retina will cause double vision and visual confusion. At this time, the cerebral cortex actively suppresses the visual impulses from the strabismic eye, and the macular function of this eye is suppressed for a long time, resulting in amblyopia.

3. Anisometropic amblyopia:

Anisometropia (unequal refractive errors in the two eyes) is a common cause of visual deprivation in children. Due to the large difference in refractive error, the clarity of the images of the same object formed on the two retinas is unequal, making it difficult or impossible for the images of both eyes to fuse. The visual cortex center can only suppress the image from the eye with the larger refractive error, and amblyopia occurs over time.

4. Refractive amblyopia:

Refractive amblyopia is often bilateral and occurs in patients with high refractive error who have not worn corrective glasses, especially those with high hyperopia. This kind of amblyopia does not cause inhibition of brain central functions because the visual acuity of the two eyes is almost the same and there is no binocular image fusion disorder. Therefore, after wearing suitable glasses, the vision will gradually improve without special treatment, but it will take a long time.