Re: Can my eyes be helped?

Posted By Monique on July 02, 1999 at 11:45:56
I am a 21 yr old female and was diagnosed with amblyopia when I was about 2 yrs old. I wore glasses from age 5 and up until about a year my prescription was -2.75 in right eye and -4.00 in the left eye. My lazy was very apparent until about 5 yrs ago and my eye sight never improved. 3 years ago I saw an opthamologist to see what I could do, he explained to me that my optic nerve from my left eye had disintergrated significantly and while my sight could not be helped he suggested that I could undergo a simple operation to correction my lazy eye (left eye) that also suffers from astygmatism. He also suggested that I try contact lenses as my glasses gave me continual headaches ensuring that the prescription was correct and ensured me that my eyesight would not get worse until I was an old lady - he "staked his life on it". Now my right eye is -3.75 and my left is -5.00 this happened over about 1 year. Could there be any correlation between wearing contact lenses and my eye sight becoming worse? Please help.

[HFHS M.D.-NI]

Posted By HFHS MD - NI on July 02, 1999 at 13:09:31
Amblyopia results when the brain does not properly recognize images from the eye and can only be treated in childhood (preferably before age 8).  If the eye wanders and this is a cosmetic problem, it can be straightened with eye muscle surgery.  I doubt that the change in your prescription occured from contact lenses as there can be some normal fluctuation as the eye grows.
There should not be a problem with contacts except that there is a small chance for infection and if you only have one good eye, you have to be careful.  Wearing glasses can also provide protection from inadvertant injury to your good eye.
I think you should keep followup with your ophthalmologist or if you are in the Detroit area, we can examine you for a second opinion by calling 8003637575.
This information is for educational purposes only.










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