Eye Exercises for Lazy Eye

Lazy eye is not a disease and cannot be corrected by using glasses or lenses. The human brain, due to some reason, does not respond to any one of the eyes. This eye is said to be amblyopic or the lazy eye. The brain does not totally acknowledge the images that are seen by the lazy eye. Usually, lazy eye is observed in one eye. However, in some rare cases, amblyopia is observed in both the eyes. The symptoms of a lazy eye are that the eye wanders inward and outward, the lazy eye does not work along with the other normal eye and depth perception becomes poor. Before we get to know the eye exercises for lazy eye, let us get to know the the causes of this eye problem known as lazy eye.

Causes of Lazy Eye
The major cause of lazy eye (Amblyopia) is strabismus. Now, what is strabismus? Strabimus is an imbalance in the muscles that are positioning the eye in the right position. Strabimus is responsible for the unusual inward and outward movement of eyes. This is the reason why the eye is not able to capture the images correctly and send them to the brain. This is one cause of lazy eye, the second being due to blockage in the eye due to trauma or a lid droop. A wandering eye is the primary sign of a lazy eye.

Eye Exercises for Lazy Eye
Eye exercises, besides being good for eye health, are also meant to improve vision. Eye exercises are important to develop and maintain normal vision and to increase depth perception of the eye. Here are some of the eye exercises for amblyopia that you can use to treat the lazy eye of your child. It is strongly recommended that you should consult a doctor before you use these eye exercises for lazy eye.

Eye Patching
Eye patching involves disabling the healthy eye with the help of an eye patch. In this exercise, the lazy eye is forced to work and helps to establish a communication between the brain and the eye. The time period for which this patch is to be worn by the child is decided by the doctor. It is advisable to ask the doctor when and for how much time the patch should be worn by your child.

Focusing Skills
Focusing is one of the eye exercises for lazy eye (amblyopia) which involves quick shifting focus when looking from near to far. Kids with a lazy eye face this problem in schools when they have to look at their boards after looking in their books placed on the desk. The eye exercise for lazy eye which involves focusing can be done at home. Take printouts of numbers from 1 to 30 on a sheet of paper and then ask your child to read these numbers and then read the numbers from the calender which is hung on the wall. You can give your child any random number and ask him / her to find out the number on the calender.

Rolling
Rolling the eyes, so that the muscles of the lazy eye work. This is done by patching the stronger eye. The rolling direction and time must be confirmed with the doctor.

Tracking
Another eye exercise for amblyopia is tracking. Tracking integrates the central and peripheral vision of the child. The central vision tells us about the object we are looking at. The peripheral vision helps us to locate the objects. A good integration of both these visions renders a good vision. The exercises that use tracking involves tracking the outline of a circle, clown or any other figure. Tracking these images must be done continuously without looking in any other direction.

These are the eye exercises for lazy eye. Try to make these eye exercises for amblyopia fun for kids, so that they will enjoy doing them. It is suggested that they must be performed by your child after you consult a doctor about them. The doctor will let you know the exact treatment of lazy eye.