Lazy eye also known as amblyopia. Amblyopia generally starts at birth or during early childhood. Amblyopia commonly cause by squint or a significant difference in the refractive errors in the two eyes. It’s important to correct amblyopia as early as possible, before the brain ignores vision in the affected eye.

Amblyopic can be treated with vision therapy as patching, atropine eye drops, correct the refractive error or surgery.

Vision therapy helps both eyes work as a team. Vision therapy for someone with amblyopia forces the brain to use the amblyopic eye, thus restoring vision.

A patch will be placed over the stronger eye to force the weaker eye to be used more. Patching may be required for several hours each day or even all day long, and may continue for weeks or months.

In some cases, atropine eye drops have been used instead of patching. Atropine eye drops blurs vision in the good eye, which forces the child to use the eye with amblyopia more, to strengthen it. This method benefits the child that refuse to wear the eye patch.

If your child has become amblyopic due to a strong uncorrected refractive error or a large difference between the refractive errors of their eyes, amblyopia can sometimes simply be treated by wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses full-time. In some cases, patching may be recommended along with the new glasses or contact lenses.

In cases when the amblyopia is caused by a large eye turn, strabismus surgery is usually required to straighten the eyes. The surgery corrects the muscle problem that causes strabismus so the eyes can focus together and see properly.

Amblyopia will not go away on its own, and untreated amblyopia can lead to permanent visual problems and poor depth perception. To prevent this and to give your child the best vision possible, amblyopia should be treated early on.

If amblyopia is detected and aggressively treated before the age of 8 in many cases the weak eye will be able to develop 6/6 vision.