Ophthamology: Amblyopia and Strabismus

Question 1

What is amblyopia?

Answer 1

Interruption of stimulation of the visual cortex leading to diminished visual acuity.
-Lazy Eye

Question 2

What are the 3 main causes of amblyopia?

Answer 2

1. Strabismus: eyes don’t work together
2. Unequal refractive errors: something causes blurry vision and prevents the visual cortex from developing
3. Form deprivation: something block light from entering the eye like ptosis

Question 3

Strabismus leads to double vision in adults and is also the leading cause of amblyopia in children. Why don’t children complain of diplopia when they have strabismus?

Answer 3

Children still have devloping occipital cortices and the brain will suppress the non-dominant eye which prevents diplopia, however, it leads to amblyopia.

Question 4

Name two treatments for amblyopia.

Answer 4

1. Patch: placed over the good eye so the “bad” eye can stimulate the corresponding visual cortex.
2. Cycloplegic Eye Drops (like atropine): relax the ciliary muscle in the good eye causing blurred vision. This forces the patient to use the “bad” eye.

Question 5

What does the suffix “-phoria” and the suffix “-tropia” indicate in ophthamology?

Answer 5

• phoria: latent deviation of the eye, meaning that it has to be induced
• tropia: deviation of an eye that does not have to be induced.

Question 6

How is an objective number obtained to measure the severity of the strabismus?

Answer 6

Alternate prism test.
-once the “bad” eye is determined, a prism is placed in front of the eye to bend the light images entering the eye. The prism is rotated until the bad eye lines up with the good eye.

The rotation is measured and quantified.

Question 7

What is accomodative esotropia and how is it treated?

Answer 7

Seen in kids. Children have smaller eyes and are naturally hyperopic and esotropic. Treated with glasses. If glasses don’t fully correct the problem, muscular surgery is done.