How to correct lazy eyes in adults?

Doctor's Answer

Hi Orangebox

Unfortunately, the term 'lazy eye' can mean a few different things.

Most of the time, medically speaking 'lazy eye' refers to 'amblyopia', where because of the absence of a clear image in the eye, the eye's connections to the brain do not develop properly.

This development can only happen in childhood, before about 9-10 years of age or so. People with amblyopia do not see detail as well as others, and amblyopia can vary from mild to severe.

The typical treatment for amblyopia is patching the good eye in children. Once beyond about 9-10 years of age, patching the good eye does not work anymore. In the past, computer programs like Neurovision have provided somewhat disappointing results.

More recently, researchers have even tried programs/games with virtual reality headsets that show different images to the 2 eyes, with somewhat mixed results.

On average, there was a small improvement in vision, which was about a line of logMAR vision and not that different from past results with Neurovision. Suffice to say that currently there are no effective ways of curing adult amblyopia, whether medically, surgically or with computer programs.

On the other hand, some people call a squint ('cross eye'/'wall eye') lazy eyes. There are many conditions which can cause the eyes to deviate inwards ('cross eye') or outwards ('wall eye'). Your options would depend very much on which exact type of squint you have, if in fact this is the problem rather than amblyopia.

As with many questions regarding specific situations, it is best that you see an eye doctor for a full clinic consult to determine what the actual problem or problems are, and only then can advice about your options be given.

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