Often, a major focus of eye therapy for lazy eye is correcting the refractive error. Refractive error in an eye simply means that the eye cannot focus correctly. Three types of refractive errors are nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism.

When left unaddressed with appropriate lazy eye therapy, refractive errors can strain the eye muscles, which then have to work harder to achieve a focused vision. In some cases, both eyes have different magnitudes of refractive errors medically known as ‘Anisometropia.’

One of the eyes may have significantly poorer vision than the other. When this happens, the brain tends to rely more on sharp visual impulses from the normal eye and ignore the visual impulses from the weaker eye.

Our eyes have a set of muscles that help with eye movements. A weakness in any eye muscle will lead to abnormalities in the movement, such as turning inwards or outwards or having uncoordinated movements.

This condition is called "squint" or "strabismus." The brain tends to ignore the hazy visual images coming from the affected eye which is non-aligned. This eye then becomes a "lazy eye,” which can then only be resolved with a precise lazy eye cure.

Eye drops are instilled into the normal eye and cause a temporary blurring of vision in the normal eye. This prompts the brain to turn towards visual impulses coming from the weaker or lazy eye. The effect is similar to patching.

However, the success of such a lazy eye cure depends on how regularly the child is applying the patches/eye drops. Most children do not like this kind of amblyopia treatment and tend to resist it. Very often, parents do not apply the patch to avoid social stigma. Compliance with patching is very low.

Patching or penalization can also lead to visual problems in the normal eye. Patching has limitations of age and does not help in correcting the adult lazy eye.

• Lesser success rates and higher incidence of residual visual deficit.
• Prolonged lazy eye treatment over many years is essential for optimal results.
• Monocular lazy eye treatment – treats one eye only.
• Chances of visual disturbances occurring in the stronger eye.
• Possibility of relapse once patching is discontinued.
• Discomfort to the eyes and the child due to eye-drop installation or patching.
• Patching may cause social anxiety in older children.
• Non-compliance to patching due to peer pressure.
• Time is of the essence, traditional lazy eye treatment options like patching is not helpful unless started at an early age (< 9years).
• Not useful to treat Lazy Eye in adults.

Surgery is recommended as an amblyopia treatment if there is a presence of a cataract or squint (strabismus).

While it is true that for treating the lazy eye, time is of the essence, and most treatments are directed towards children, there are newer lazy eye treatment technologies available that can be used to improve eyesight in adults and the elderly population as well.

“It is a myth that lazy eyes can be treated only in early childhood. Adults too can overcome their lazy eyes with recent advances in technology that help achieve perfect vision.”

Glasses are a traditional means of amblyopia treatment opted for for conditions that are associated with refractive errors.