What are the treatments for amblyopia?
Treatments include: • Where possible, to treat or correct any underlying eye disorder, AND • Making the the affected eye work so that vision can develop properly. Correcting the underlying eye disorders For example: refractive errors such as short or long sight can be corrected with glasses; cataracts can be removed; etc. Making the the affected eye work The main treatment for amblyopia is to restrict the use of the good eye. This then forces the affected eye to work. If this is done early enough in childhood, the vision will usually improve, often up to a normal level. In effect, the visual development of the affected eye catches up. The common way this is done is to put a patch over the good eye for a time. This is called ‘eye patching’. The length of time an eye patch is used, and how long it should be used each day can vary. It depends on the age of the child and how bad the amblyopia has become. Basically, treatment is continued until vision is normal, or until there is no further
