I am a 21 year old from India. I recently found out that I have a lazy left eye and have very little chances of improved vision. I will be passing out with my Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering in June of 2012 and I have a job offer in hand from a reputed company in the automobile sector. Since I would be required to undergo a medical test I think they might reject me for my Lazy eye.
Can anyone please give me an unbiased and a realistic opinion on this test; whether i would be able to pass this test and if not what are the avenues that are open for me as a mechanical engineer.
PS: tried searching the forum but didn't get any related queries...sorry if I missed out.
My guess is no one has answered you yet because we don't know what the test entails, so can't give a good answer. Plus few of us are eye doctors, and even if we were we can't give a diagnosis from just reading your post, without looking at your eyes! I know Dr. Bates and several later followers of his methods have cured people of amblyopia, so it is definitely possible. My sense is your biggest obstacle may be your fear about this, and the worry that it isn't possible to improve, or that others (like your potential employers) will judge you as inadequate to do the job. Maybe the medical exam is mostly to see that you're not on drugs! Seriously, if you can see well enough, with or without glasses, I'd think that would be good enough, although of course I don't know this for sure.
I'd study the Bates material and David's blog posts here, and practice noticing how you're using your eyes and how they feel. Also, see if you can find a local Bates teacher to work with you in person. And focus on calming yourself -- my guess is the amblyopia gets worse when you're upset. Good luck.
Unfortunately I'm not much of an expert when it comes to the neuro aspect of seeing. Generally in amblyopia you'd go for a combination of glasses to correct the blurry vision as much as possible and forcing the use of the affected eye. Did they try this on you and it didn't work?
When you say "very blurry", does it get better when you squint? Do you have glasses or contacts for your bad eye, and if so do they help at all?
Amblyopia is, in fact, caused by your brain shutting off one eye so that it doesn't interfere with the better eye. Amblyopia can be corrected in childhood by the use of patching -- covering the good eye to force the part of the brain that controls the bad eye to compensate.
:o
George Shelter
Ambit Energy, Sales Consultant
Carthage, Missouri
