Doctor Moosa, a LASIK specialist in Los Angeles, educates us on the fact that eye muscle imbalance is a highly complex disorder. A common form of eye imbalance is strabismus, a visual issue where the eyes are lined up correctly and point in various directions. One eye could look dead-on, while the other eye turns inward, outward, upward, or downward. The eye turn may be constant, or it could reappear. The eye that is straight and which is misaligned may change or alter.
Normally children experience strabismus. As a matter of fact, a LASIK eye surgery expert informs us that 4 percent of all children in the United States have strabismus. However, strabismus is not only prevalent in children because adults are also susceptible to it. Plus, it can be genetic; yet, many people with strabismus do not have any relatives with the issue.
What Is Strabismus?
It is a shortcoming in eye muscles that leads to horizontal or vertical misalignment. Typically, six muscles move the eye, and the different types of strabismus go hand in hand with the various muscles involved.
The body moves these six muscles around to avoid the eyes from simultaneously concentrating on one object, so two disputing images are transmitted to the brain at the same time. Both eyes look at the same object and send only one image to the brain in normal circumstances.
A child with strabismus and maybe needing corrective eye surgery is usually taught to ignore or suppress the image recognized by the misaligned eye. The normal eye becomes predominant, while the misaligned eye evolves less vision due to absence of use. This vision reduction in one eye is amblyopia, and about 50% of children with strabismus develop amblyopia.
What Is Lazy Eye?
The LASIK eye doctors in Los Angeles inform us that the medical term for ‘lazy eye’ is amblyopia, a condition in which the eyes are misaligned or don’t work well together.
The causes of amblyopia can vary, and most of all, each cause needs different treatment:
Refractive amblyopia: A condition that affects one eye’s vision that makes the prescription a lot stronger than the other. Eventually, the dominant eye will carry out more work, resulting in the weaker eye falling out of alignment. Fortunately, refractive vision issues can be straightened out with LASIK or laser vision correction in Los Angeles.
Strabismus amblyopia: Is an imbalance in the muscles that lay out the eyes. One eye seems to falter behind the other, and in the long run, this results in a weakened vision in the eye that’s faltering.
Deprivation amblyopia: Also known as “obstructed amblyopia,” is when one eye’s vision becomes obstructed, usually by cataracts or another condition. Ultimately, the brain begins to support the other eye. This form of lazy eye is most common very early in life and may occur in elderly people because of age-related vision issues.
Can You Correct A Lazy Eye With LASIK?
LASIK is well known for being a laser eye surgery that enhances vision by fixing refractive vision problems. LASIK can remedy a lazy eye, but only when the root of the issue is a discrepancy in the refractive error between both eyes (refractive amblyopia). LASIK surgery can lead to a similar prescription in your eyes, lowering the issues that come with having one eye working like fury than the other.
Although LASIK isn’t a surefire fix for refractive amblyopia, it is a significant determinant in recovering from the condition. LASIK works well together with other amblyopia therapies that help the brain to begin to comprehend the improved vision in your lazy eye.
If amblyopia results from misaligned/crossed eyes or obstructed vision, laser eye surgery is going to do nothing to improve the condition. Also, LASIK can’t be carried out on minors, so it is not ideal when amblyopia affects children.
Can You Even Correct A Lazy Eye?
Although LASIK can help treat refractive amblyopia, it can’t be of any benefit with other types of lazy eye and cannot treat children. Therefore, there are other ways of treating different types of amblyopia. These treatments are applied on their own and, in some situations, with LASIK.
Most of the time, treatments involve making the vision the same in both eyes so that the brain is forced to use the lazy eye. Occasionally, this means improving the lazy eye’s vision with a more powerful glasses’ lens prescription than in the other eye. For some cases, this means blocking the “good” eye with either an eyepatch or eye drops to obstruct vision, coercing the brain to use the lazy eye.
Eye exercises are also an excellent way to manage a lazy eye. These usually involve the patient focusing on small or fixed objects or words for long periods, making the brain work in conjunction with the eyes.
Another factor is dietary habits since the proper vitamins can help with brain activity and eyesight. Remember that all of these treatments should only be done under your doctor’s guidance.
If you want to discover more about how LASIK can help your eyesight and perhaps correct eye muscle imbalances, contact Excel Laser Vision Institute at (888) 957-3255 or visit our website. Our expert team and highly reputable LASIK surgeon, Dr. Moosa, are happy and willing to answer all your questions.
