Developmental Disabilities
Early in life, the eyes enter a stage in neurodevelopment where they must work together to attain a higher level of eye function. The brain directs eye convergence as it gradually learns to coordinate input from both eyes. Normal convergence is necessary for children to perform skills, including reading, math skills, depth perception, and other critical brain processes.
Amblyopia means that an individual primarily deals with problems related to eye convergence. It is a development issue where signals from both eyes are not integrated or processed correctly by the brain. In some cases, the brain may switch between eyes to gather information, resulting in divergence and convergence issues, wherein the lazy eye may wander in various directions.
Given eye convergence is a developmental issue, the prognosis for children with lazy eyes is poor at best. This is because the problem lies in the brain. Children with lazy eyes must undergo surgery to resolve the issue permanently when left untreated. Despite this, parents must know that surgery typically works in about 11% of patients. Additional surgeries may be needed to establish stronger neuropathways to the lazy eye.
