When and how is amblyopia treated?
Amblyopia is treated during childhood, and the earlier the age, the better the treatment result. Usually, by the age of 9-10 years the visual system is stable, and the vision does not improve much with treatment. However, vision improvement can occur at up to 17 years of age in some cases. The underlying cause of the amblyopia is treated (correction of refractive error with glasses or contact lenses, removal of cataract, etc.) and then vision reassessed. If vision is still reduced, consideration is given to amblyopia treatment. The main forms of treatment are patches and drops. Occlusion treatment involves patching the better-seeing eye to stimulate vision in the poorer-seeing eye. The ophthalmologist prescribes the hours per day to patch based on the age of the child and the severity of vision deficit. Follow-up exams assess vision in the poorer-seeing eye for improvement and in the better-seeing eye to confirm no decrease in vision (occlusion amblyopia). In addition to an ophthalmolo
