If we want to understand the true cause of amblyopia and the most effective treatment then it is essential to understand the concept of binocular competition. What does that mean? To explain it in a simple and illustrative way, allow me to use another analogy. Imagine that the two eyes are twin brothers and their mother is in the visual cortex of the brain.

　　要了解引起弱視的真正原因，并找到最有效的治療方法，就必須先了解雙眼競爭這個(gè)概念。雙眼競爭是什么意思呢?為了簡單、形象地解釋雙眼競爭，我用一個(gè)類比，方便大家理解。將兩只眼睛，想象成雙胞胎兄弟，他們的媽媽，在大腦視覺皮層。

　　16. Mother and twins representing the brain and two eyes.

　　The brothers both want to talk to their mother. In a normal and well-functioning visual system, there is good communication between the three; sometimes one brother will speak while the other listens, and vice versa. When the brother work in this coordinated manner the mother has the easiest time receiving the information.

　　兄弟二人都想和媽媽說話。視覺系統(tǒng)功能正常運(yùn)行時(shí)，三者之間溝通良好;當(dāng)哥哥跟媽媽說話時(shí)，弟弟在一旁聽，就這樣輪流和媽媽說話。當(dāng)兄弟兩人相互配合時(shí)，媽媽很容易接收到所有信息。

　　Let’s see how the normal process of binocular competition gets distorted, thus producing an amblyopic eye. When the process gets distorted, the better seeing eye will behave like a bully and the amblyopic eye as the less assertive brother. Whenever the less assertive brother wants to talk to mom, the bully will cover the less assertive brother’s mouth preventing him from speaking to her.

　　然而，雙眼競爭，擾亂了運(yùn)行良好的視覺系統(tǒng)，因此導(dǎo)致弱視眼。當(dāng)視覺處理的進(jìn)程被擾亂后，較好的那只眼，就像惡霸哥哥，弱視眼就像是弱小的弟弟。每當(dāng)弱小的弟弟想和媽媽說話時(shí)，霸道哥哥就會阻止弱小弟弟和媽媽說話。

　　17. The bully represents the good eye and the less assertive brother represents the amblyopic eye.

　　Over time the less assertive brother gets less and less assertive, so that eventually he loses the desire and ability to speak to the mother. After a while, the only one doing the talking is the bully. This process of abnormal binocular competition or bullying is called active suppression.

　　隨著時(shí)間的推移，弱小的弟弟就越來越弱，最終他再不愿意和媽媽說話，甚至失去了和媽媽說話的能力。經(jīng)過一段時(shí)間后，就只有霸道哥哥和媽媽說話了。這種非正常的雙眼競爭過程，我們稱為主動抑制。

　　18. The “amblyopic eye” loses the desire to speak to the mother.

　　During treatment, if you want the less assertive brother to be able to communicate with mom, first you must put the bully in a different room so that the bully cannot cover his brother’s mouth he tries to speak.

　　在治療過程中，為了讓弱小的弟弟和媽媽溝通交流，首先要把霸道哥哥關(guān)在另一個(gè)房間里，這樣霸道哥哥就阻止不了弟弟和媽媽說話。

　　19. The “bully” being sent to a different room to reduce the binocular competition.

　　This is effectively what happens when you put an eye patch on the good eye. What happens when the bully re-enters the room (i.e., when we remove the patch)? The bully will make use of its

　　strength and superiority and will once again cover the mouth of his brother! This is why only patching is not the most effective treatment, and the gains made during patching are lost after the patch is removed.

　　眼罩遮蓋好眼是有效的。當(dāng)霸道哥哥回到房間后(即不遮蓋的時(shí)候)，會出現(xiàn)什么情況呢?霸道哥哥會再次欺負(fù)弱小的弟弟!所以停止遮蓋后，之前遮蓋取得的治療效果也會消失。所以說單純遮蓋，不是最有效的治療方法。