Lazy eye or amblyopia correction options include glasses, eye drops, vision therapy, and/or patching and amblyopia surgery.
Amblyopia treatment options
Recent medical research has proven that amblyopia is successfully treating up to the age of 17. Treating amblyopia involves making the child use the eye with the reduced vision (weaker eye). Currently, there are two ways used to do this:
Atropine
A drop of an atropine drug is placing in the stronger eye once a day to blur the vision so that the child will prefer to use the eye with amblyopia. Treatment with atropine also stimulates vision in the weaker eye and helps the part of the brain that manages vision develop more completely.
Adhesive patching
An opaque, adhesive patch is warning over the stronger eye for weeks to months. This therapy forces the child to use the eye with amblyopia. It stimulates vision in the weaker eye and completely develops the part of the brain that controls the vision.
Clinical trial treatment of amblyopia with parches shows an amazing positive result with children from an age of 7 through 17.
Early diagnosis increases the chance for a complete recovery from lazy eye. This is the reason why eye specialist recommends a comprehensive optometric examination by the age of 6 months and again at age 3. Lazy eye will not go away, until with a proper treatment that too before age of 17 years. If not diagnosed until the pre-teen, teen, or adult years, treatment takes longer and is often less effective.
Surgery and patch treatment
Some time in addition to a patch treatment, doctor may recommend surgery for the crossed/wandering eye. Surgery only makes the eyes appear straight by cutting and stretching muscles to reposition the eye, just a cosmetic fix, not a visual correction. However, this surgery support or helps faster recovery even for acute cases of lazy eye.