How is amblyopia treated?

Amblyopia is a common pediatric eye condition, usually occurring during the visual development period when vision in one or both eyes fails to reach normal levels due to various causes. Treatment mainly includes the following aspects: 1. Vision correction: Patients need to wear appropriate glasses or contact lenses to correct conditions such as myopia, hyperopia, or astigmatism. This is the foundation of amblyopia treatment. 2. Occlusion therapy: For cases where the vision of the dominant eye is normal but amblyopia exists in the other eye, covering the dominant eye may be used to force the use of the amblyopic eye, thus promoting improvement in its visual function. The occlusion time will be adjusted according to the doctor's recommendations and the child's specific condition. 3. Visual training: A series of eye exercises and visual perception training are conducted to help improve coordination between the brain and eyes, enhancing the visual quality of the amblyopic eye. 4. Medication treatment: In some cases, doctors may use atropine eye ointment to temporarily blur the vision of the dominant eye, encouraging the child to use the amblyopic eye more frequently. 5. Surgical treatment: If amblyopia is caused by strabismus (misaligned eyes), surgery may be required to adjust the eye muscles and improve eye positioning. However, this is usually considered only after other treatment methods have proven ineffective. It should be noted that amblyopia treatment should begin as early as possible, because a child's visual system tends to mature around the ages of 8–10 years, and beyond this age, treatment effectiveness may diminish. Parents should closely monitor their child's visual development and follow medical advice persistently to increase the likelihood of successfully treating amblyopia.