Lazy eye doesn't hinder job prospects

According to recent research, lazy eye or amblyopia, does not diminish a person's employment prospects.Amblyopia is a condition that usually involves poor vision in one eye for no apparent physical reason. With early diagnosis and treatment, vision can be restored in the affected eye. Research provides evidence that people with the condition are at an increased risk for vision loss in the non-amblyopic eye, and that loss of visual ability in the non-amblyopic eye due to injury or disease can lead to spontaneous improvement in the amblyopic eye.In the current Blue Mountains Eye Study, 3654 individuals 49 years of age or older underwent detailed eye examinations between 1992 and 1994. Five years later, 2335 were re-examined. Amblyopia was identified in 118 subjects initially, of whom 73 were re-examined 5 years later. While the presence of amblyopia was not associated with lifetime occupational class, fewer people with amblyopia received a college degree, researchers from the University of Sydney, Australia, found. The study showed that amblyopic patients have a 5-year risk of visual impairment in the non-amblyopic eye of 33 percent compared with a 13 percent risk in people without the condition. Of note, 9 percent of amblyopic patients experienced an improvement in visual ability in the amblyopic eye after vision worsened in the non-amblyopic eye.Further research is, however, needed to understand the mechanisms that account for improvement and slippage in the visual ability of the adult amblyopic eye.