Illustration by Mira Norian for Verywell Health
How Do You Get Lazy Eye?
It is most common in young children.
Treatment: Can You “Fix” a Lazy Eye?
Illustration by Mira Norian for Verywell Health
Treatment is particularly effective in children under the age 7 whose vision is still developing.
Don’t consider it to be too late.
Research suggests that even adults can potentially improve their vision.
The cause of lazy eye will determine whether and when surgery is needed.
For instance, if an infant has a dense cataract, surgery will need to be performed right away.
Those under age 4 tend to have better outcomes than older children.
But if treatment is delayed, the child may have problems withdepth perception.
The eye doctor will then monitor vision every six to 12 weeks.
Getting a child to keep a patch on can be challenging but is of utmost importance.
Each day a drop is placed in the stronger eye to widen thepupil.
It then forces the other eye to be used for close-up tasks like reading.
Summary
Amblyopia (lazy eye) usually affects one eye.
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