By the BabyCenter editorial staff, from: http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babyills/babyeyes/10890.html Amblyopia (also called Lazy eye) develops when the brain shuts off or suppresses vision in one eye. This can happen if your baby's eyes are misaligned or if he can't see as well with one eye because of nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, or something that's blocking clear vision in that eye, like a cataract or a drooping eyelid.

Amblyopia, also known as "lazy eye," has many causes. Most often it results from either a misalignment of a child's eyes, such as crossed eyes, or a difference in image quality between the two eyes (one eye focusing better than the other.) In both cases, one eye becomes stronger, suppressing the image of the other eye. If this condition persists, the weaker eye may becomes useless.

It is estimated that two to three percent of the general population suffers from this form of visual impairment.

The first step is to address any underlying problem ? by correcting the astigmatism or nearsightedness with glasses or removing a cataract with surgery, for example. Once that's taken care of, the goal is to encourage your child's brain to connect with the weaker eye, eventually improving its ability to see. Glasses don't help to improve this eye-brain connection. In fact, one sign of the condition is that your baby's vision is still worse in one eye when he's wearing the correct glasses.

A comprehensive optometric examination can determine the presence of amblyopia. The earlier it is diagnosed, the greater the chance for a complete recovery. That is why it is important to have your child's vision examined before the age of three and again when entering school. Since amblyopia occurs only in one eye, the good eye takes over and the individual is generally unaware of the condition.

Corrective lenses, prisms, contact lenses and/or vision therapy are often used to treat amblyopia. In less developed cases, patching the good eye often stimuates and strengthens the amblyopic eye. In more advanced situations, other vision therapy techniques are used. The vision of the eye itself does not get worse, but the brain simply pays less and less attention to the imags sent by the amblyopic ye. Eventually, the condition stabilizes and the eye becomes virtually unused.

Early detection and treatment of crossed-eyes and severe refractive errors can help to reduce the chances of one eye becoming amblyopic.

If not treated early enough, an amblyopic eye may never develop good vision and may even become functionally blind.

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Amblyopia is generally the result of poor early visual development, and as such, usually occurs before the age of five or six. It is estimated that two to four percent of children under age six have anblyopia. The chance of amblyopia developing during adulthood is very small.