What are the treatments for amblyopia?

Many patients with amblyopia are born with the condition, and most of them are children. For their future healthy growth, experts recommend that the earlier the treatment, the better. Common methods for treating amblyopia include traditional occlusion + fine vision homework and visual stimulation therapy, which have good effects if persisted for a long time.

1. What are the commonly used treatments for amblyopia?

(1) Traditional covering method + fine vision homework: Cover the eye with good vision and force the amblyopic eye (the eye with poor vision) to see things. At the same time, do fine vision homework, such as: training with the amblyopic plug board to stimulate the development of the optic nerve system and improve the vision of the amblyopic eye. This method is simple and easy to use, suitable for strabismic amblyopia and anisometropic amblyopia, and has reliable effects.

(2) Visual stimulation therapy (CAM stimulator): using a grating with strong contrast and different spatial frequencies as a stimulus source to stimulate the amblyopic eye to improve vision. This method is simple and easy, each treatment time is short, and the effect is quick. It is especially suitable for amblyopia caused by refractive errors. Other methods include suppression therapy, afterimage therapy, etc.

2. What are the dangers of amblyopia?

Amblyopia is a curable disease if it occurs during the sensitive period of visual development. If children's amblyopia is not discovered and treated early, it will lead to low vision in one or both eyes, seriously affecting binocular vision function, causing fusion loss and stereo blindness.

3. Can treatment be stopped after the amblyopic eye’s vision returns to normal?

After amblyopia is treated, vision returns to normal. Most parents believe that further treatment is unnecessary, which is wrong. Restoring the vision of the amblyopic eye to normal is only the first step in treatment. In the future, the binocular single vision, fusion, and stereoscopic vision functions must be trained.

4. Is it better to treat amblyopia at an older age or a younger age?

Many parents believe that amblyopia should be treated when the children are a little older, as they will be more sensible and more cooperative with the treatment. This is a complete mistake. The treatment of amblyopia is closely related to age, and the younger the age, the better the effect. Some studies have shown that the critical period is within 2 years old, the sensitive period is between 6 and 8 years old, the treatment effect is extremely poor after the age of 12, and treatment after the age of 16 is almost hopeless.