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• Diagnosis and Tests
• Treatments and Therapies

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Summary

Amblyopia, or "lazy eye," is the most common cause of visual impairment in children. It happens when an eye fails to work properly with the brain. The eye may look normal, but the brain favors the other eye. In some cases, it can affect both eyes. Causes include:

• Strabismus - a disorder in which the two eyes don't line up in the same direction
• Refractive error in an eye - when one eye cannot focus as well as the other, because of a problem with its shape. This includes nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.
• Cataract - a clouding in the lens of the eye

It can be hard to diagnose amblyopia. It is often found during a routine vision exam.

Treatment for amblyopia forces the child to use the eye with weaker vision. There are two common ways to do this. One is to have the child wear a patch over the good eye for several hours each day, over a number of weeks to months. The other is with eye drops that temporarily blur vision. Each day, the child gets a drop of a drug called atropine in the stronger eye. It is also sometimes necessary to treat the underlying cause. This could include glasses or surgery.

NIH: National Eye Institute

Start Here

• Amblyopia (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus)
• Amblyopia (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Amblyopia (Lazy Eye) (National Eye Institute)
• Amblyopia: What Is Lazy Eye? (American Academy of Ophthalmology)

Diagnosis and Tests

• Vision Screening (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

• Dilating Eye Drops (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus)

Specifics

• Nutritional and Toxic Optic Neuropathies (Merck & Co., Inc.) Also in Spanish

Statistics and Research

• Eye Health Data and Statistics (National Eye Institute) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Amblyopia (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Bangerter filter's role in regulating ocular axial length: a novel application...
• Article: Comparative Neuroplasticity in Frontal- and Lateral-Eyed Mammals With Induced-Binocular Vision Dysfunction:...
• Article: Axial Length Dynamics and Safety of Occlusion Therapy in Pediatric Amblyopia:...
• Amblyopia -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• How the Eyes Work (National Eye Institute) Also in Spanish

Find an Expert

• Find an Ophthalmologist (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
• Finding an Eye Doctor (National Eye Institute)
• National Eye Institute

Children

• Photoscreening (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus)

Patient Handouts

• Amblyopia (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Amblyopia (Lazy Eye) (National Eye Institute)
• Standard eye exam (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish