Blackham Week 4 - Amblyopia

    Some of you may already know, but I was born with a condition called amblyopia or sometimes called lazy eye. It’s not a lazy eye as you might first think - when one eye drifts or droops - but rather, my left eye has significantly worse vision than my right eye. There are a few different causes of amblyopia, but for me, I was born with nearsightedness but only in my left eye. If I was nearsighted in both eyes, this could easily be fixed with prescription glasses. However, because my right eye had perfect vision, we never realized there was a problem. Over time, my brain started ignoring my left eye and would only use my good eye to see or read. Because of this, the connections between my eye and my brain never fully developed. If amblyopia is caught at a young age, it can be treated and completely corrected. Since we didn’t notice my vision problem until I was 5 or 6 years old, they could only do so much to fix it. When I was first tested, my left eye could only see the big “E” on the eye chart and nothing below that. For a few years, I had an eye patch that I had to wear over my right eye to force my left eye to focus. I hated my patch because I (obviously) couldn’t see with it on, but its purpose was to help develop the brain connections with my left eye. When I reached about age 9, my brain and eye had finished developing, so there wasn’t anything left we could do to improve my vision past that point. I have 20/20 vision in my right eye and 20/60 vision in my left - I can read about halfway through the eye chart. Together I have 20/20 or perfect vision. To be honest, it hardly bothers me anymore. My peripheral vision is a little weaker on the left side, but for the most part, my vision is normal unless I cover my good eye. 

    Because of the underlying cause of amblyopia, prescription glasses don’t do next to nothing to improve vision. I did recently get glasses, though. There’s a clear lens on the right side and a +2 prescription lens on the left, which just magnifies my view a little. While my glasses don’t really help my vision, the main reason I have them is as a protection for my good eye. If I were to lose the vision in my right eye, I would lose a lot of normal functioning. I wouldn’t be able to drive. I couldn’t read anything. I couldn’t text or type out a blog post on my computer. For example, if I close my good eye, I can’t read the words I’m currently typing. Because of the possible consequences, I'll do everything I can to protect my good eye from potential damage.