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Lazy Eye Treatment
Your Treatment Options for Lazy Eye
Lazy eye is the most common cause of impaired vision in one eye (monocular) among young and middle-aged adults. It's important to treat the condition as early as possible, to maintain excellent vision that is key for many occupations.
Lazy Eye: Treatment Options for Children and Young Adults
The main goal of treatment is to force the weaker eye to work by blocking or blurring vision in the stronger eye. Strengthening the function of the weaker eye helps improve vision in that eye, which helps overall vision to improve.
Depending on your individual case and specific needs, we may recommend one or more of the following treatments:
- Eyeglasses: Glasses that correct refractive errors (vision problems) must be worn full time and are often the first step in treating lazy eye.
- Eye patch: Wearing a patch over your stronger eye helps strengthen your weaker eye by forcing the brain to rely on images from only that eye.
- Medicated eye drops: We prescribe atropine eye drops to temporarily blur vision in the stronger eye to strengthen the weaker eye.
- Surgery: If the underlying cause of your lazy eye is strabismus (crossed eyes), we can restore proper eye alignment through outpatient surgery on eye muscles. We use the latest techniques, such as adjustable sutures, which allow us to fine-tune the correction on the eye muscles within 24 hours after surgery.
Treating Lazy Eye in Children
Lazy eye is the most common cause of impaired vision in children, but the condition responds well to early treatment. Our pediatric ophthalmologists have special training and skill to detect, diagnose and treat children with lazy eye, through Stanford Children's Health. Find out more about our pediatric care for lazy eye (amblyopia) at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.