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Prozac, A Cure For Lazy Eye
Amblyopia, or lazy eye is reduced vision in one eye as a result of a sustained period of visual neglect in childhood, resulting in neither eye glasses nor medical treatment improving the vision in that Amblyopic eye. During infancy, an infant's neurological system is very flexible, and can easily adapt to changing environmental stimuli. As such, during these formative years our visual systems learn how to function. If during that time one eye does not get adequate visual stimuli it will not develop to the same level as the other eye.
As an individual gets older, the flexibility of the system decreases, and after the age of 7-10 years old, much less can be done to improve vision in an Amblyopic eye. The best treatments to date for improving vision in one of these patients has been patching the better eye, forcing the weaker eye to work harder. In doing do, vision improves in that eye. The younger the patient, the better the results can be obtained. In addition, Vision Therapy(VT) should be part of the therapeutic plan as it retrains the visual system to function correctly. VT has a very high rate of success when done properly.
The problem has long been that after a certain age, due to the lack of plasticity of the aging visual system, an Amblyopic eye was not able to regain adequate vision. New research appears to have changed Amblyopia treatment.
The antidepressant medication Prozac, has been shown with continuous administration to reinstate ocular dominance plasticity in adulthood. This can promote improved visual function in older individuals. In early childhood the neuronal connections are very plastic, but as the critical period closes, this flexibility is greatly reduced. According to research published in an issue of Science Magazine, treatment with Prozac reopens the critical period of plasticity in the visual cortex, and Lateral Geniculate Body parts of the brain. These studies were done in rats only. In order for this flexibility to be reopened, the good eye must still be patched for a minimum of several hours per day.
The researchers concluded that the restored plasticity with the use of Prozac was as a result of a reorganization of neuronal connections in the cortex. Furthermore, maximum visual improvement was achieved when Vision Therapy was also administered. The only concern that the researchers revealed was what side affects would be with long term use of the drug. To date, known affects include but are not limited to suicide, severe anxiety, glaucoma, and visual filed defects. Future, long term research needs to be done to determine the risk/benefits of such treatment.
Dr. Jay B Stockman is a contributing editor for VisionUpdate.net, and a practicing doctor for New York Vision Associates, http://newyorkvisionassociates.com
