Kids with patches for lazy eye

Children with a lazy eye, called amblyopia, may resist wearing an eye patch or glasses to correct the condition, but these treatments are unlikely to cause long-lasting emotional harm to children. Amblyopia occurs when the brain favours one eye, leaving the other with much poorer vision. To correct the problem, the "lazy eye" must be trained to take over the job of seeing. The way to do this is to have a child wear a patch over the normal eye. This reliance on the weaker eye stimulates the part of the brain that is associated with visual development. Researchers form the University of Newcastle, Australia, studied 177 children who had vision impairment in one eye ranging from 20/30 to 20/120. The children, who were 4 years old at the start of the study, were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. Some preschoolers were immediately prescribed glasses and an eye patch, while others were assigned glasses immediately to be followed by a patch 1 year later. The remaining youngsters were not given glasses or a patch during the first year of the study. Parents were asked to fill out questionnaires about their children's treatment several times. At ages 4 and 5, about half of children were sometimes reluctant to wear their glasses, according to parents. Children were even more reluctant to wear a patch, with three out of four parents reporting that they sometimes had difficulty getting their child to wear the patch. Although some children were upset at having to wear glasses or a patch, that did not seem to stop them from being as happy-go-lucky as the next kid. Children who received treatment were reported to be as happy, cooperative and good tempered as children who did not receive treatment. Though most parents (of children with amblyopia) reported that they sometimes had a hard time getting their children to wear an eye patch or glasses, overall, however, children who wore glasses, a patch or both were just as happy as other children.

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