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TREATMENT FOR AMBLYOPIA
To correct amblyopia, a child must be encouraged to use the weaker eye.
This is usually accomplished by patching or covering the stronger eye.
Patching will often continue for weeks, months, or even years in order to restore normal vision and maintain the improvement in the amblyopic eye.
Glasses may be prescribed to correct refractive errors in one or both eyes.
Occasionally, amblyopia is treated by blurring the vision in the good eye with special eye drops or lenses to force the child to use the amblyopic eye.
Amblyopia is sometimes treated before or at the same time as surgery to correct misaligned eyes, remove a cataract, or correct another ocular abnormality.
In some cases, cataract surgery or glaucoma surgery might be necessary to treat deprivation amblyopia.
Patching may be required even after surgery to improve vision, and glasses or contact lenses may be required to restore appropriate focusing.
It is very important that you and your child fully carry out any treatment prescribed by your ophthalmologist.
Children do not like to have their eyes patched, or eye drops instilled, especially since they have been depending on the patched eye to see clearly and it will seem to them as though you are blinding them.
But as a parent, you must convince your child to do what is best for his/her future vision because successful treatment depends on it.
And remember, with initial consistent therapy the vision in the amblyopic eye will improve and the treatment will become easier.
If the amblyopia is not treated early, during the period of vision development between birth and 6-9 years of age, it can result in a permanent visual defect or loss of depth perception. Then, later in life, if the good eye becomes diseased or injured, a lifetime of poor vision with resulting handicap, e.g., inability to drive or work, may be the result.
If the problem is detected and treated early, vision will improve for most children. Sometimes part-time treatment may have to continue until the child is 6 to 9 years of age and vision development is complete. After this time, amblyopia usually does not return