Lazy eye
Overview
A lazy eye (amblyopia) is when the vision in 1 eye does not develop properly. Rarely, both eyes can be affected.
Symptoms
A lazy eye does not always cause symptoms and is often first diagnosed during an eye test. The main symptoms include: shutting 1 eye or squinting when looking at thingseyes pointing in different directions (asquint)not being able to follow an object or person with your eyestilting your head when looking at somethinghaving tired eyes and rubbing your eyes a lotheadachesdifficulty catching or throwingtripping or falling over a lotblinking a lot Many children do not notice anything wrong with their vision. You can check a younger child's eyes by covering each eye with your hand, 1 at a time. They may complain if you cover their good eye. Older children may say they're not able to see as well with 1 eye and may have problems with reading, writing and drawing.
Treatment
How lazy eye is treated depends on what's causing it. Treatment for a lazy eye aims to improve vision in the weaker eye. This may include: wearing glasses to correct your visionwearing an eye patch over the stronger eye for a few hours a day for several months – these are usually worn with glassesusing eye drops to temporarily blur vision in the stronger eye Treatment should ideally start before the age of 7, when vision is still developing. If lazy eye is caused by cataracts or a drooping eyelid, you may need surgery. You may also need to have surgery if you have a squint. This will straighten the eyes and allow them to work together better, but does not improve your vision.