Amblyopia: a mini review of the literature

Abstract

Amblyopia is a form of cerebral visual impairment in the absence of an organic cause. It is considered to derive from the degradation of the retinal image associated with abnormal visual experience during the developmental period of the visual system in infancy and early childhood. Amblyopia is a significant cause of unilateral visual deficit in childhood and is still considered as one of the most common causes of persistent unilateral visual impairment in adulthood. The following review aims at presenting the contemporary literature regarding the prevalence, the aetiology, the neural correlates, the period of critical development, the treatment, the prognosis and the disability associated with this visual deficit.

Perceptual learning treatment in patients with anisometropic amblyopia: a neuroimaging study

“…Amblyopia is a reduction of visual acuity that cannot be attributed directly to the effect of any structural abnormality of the eye or the posterior visual pathway 1. It is thought to be caused by an abnormal visual experience early in life, but its neural mechanisms are still not fully understood.…”

The Structural Properties of Major White Matter Tracts in Strabismic Amblyopia

“…Understanding the neural basis of amblyopia is important both for clinical applications and for understanding the association of early visual experience and brain plasticity. 1,2 Functional neuroimaging has revealed changes in patterns of brain activation in patients with amblyopia compared with control subjects. 3 Early in the visual pathway, the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) shows reduced activation when driven by the amblyopic compared with the fellow eye.…”

Refractive lens exchange for a multifocal intraocular lens with a surface-embedded near section in mild to moderate anisometropic amblyopic patients

“…Efforts to encourage stereopsis include the use of multifocal IOL technology in children only. 2 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulations Agency guidelines on the use of multifocal IOL technology in adult amblyopic patients are largely based on a relative paucity of preexisting clinical data. Accordingly, at present, the FDA does not recommend the use of multifocal IOLs in adult amblyopic patients.…”