Vision

When I was in preschool, I had a very good buddy who lived relatively close, and we played together about once a week. On one of our play dates, I went to her house, and she was wearing a patch over her right eye. I asked her what it was, and she told me she called it her pirate patch, and it made her eye work better. I later asked my mom if I could have a pirate patch too, and she explained to me that my friend needed the patch because she had a "lazy eye" which meant that one of her eyes was a little weaker than the other. When the patch covered her good eye, it made her weaker eye work harder.

Functional Amblyopia or "lazy eye" is one type of vision problem that presents itself in early childhood, and it is treatable if "detected prior to age 6" (Children 254). Lazy eye occurs when one eye works harder than the other to avoid double vision. Often times one eye's muscles are stronger than another, and it will compensate. Treatments could include wearing a patch, glasses, or doing eye exercises. Strabismus is another type of vision problem and it refers to a misalignment of the eyes. Crossed eyes are one example. This is treated with eye exercises which train the eyes to be straight, or with contacts.