Treatment of Amblyopia

In amblyopia due to refractive errors, normal vision can be achieved simply by fully correcting the refractive errors in both eyes with prescription glasses. However some patching of the "good" eye using an eye patch or prosthetic contact lenses is needed to force the brain to pay attention to the visual input from the amblyopic eye and enable normal vision development to occur in that eye.

In cross eyed amblyopia, in addition to eye patching strabismus surgery and vision therapy may be required to straighten the eyes.

Eye patching may be required for several hours each day and may continue for weeks or months.

Atropine eye drops have also been used to treat amblyopia instead of an eye patch. One drop is placed in the child's good eye each day. Atropine blurs the vision in the good eye, which forces your child to use the other eye with amblyopia more, to strengthen it.

Treating Older Children And Adults With Lazy Eye

Recent studies have shown that older children and adults with amblyopia can benefit from treatment using computer programs and other tools.