r/ImprovingEyesight • u/Burco21 • Aug 24 '26

Can adults fix amblyopia

Can adults fix amblyopia, or is it too late?

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

2

u/pcoutcast Aug 24 '26

No one can tell you whether you can fix any eyesight issue. For amblyopia you can always try the exercises and see what happens.

1

u/Loyal_Ice Aug 25 '26

Hey man, can I dm you

1

u/WideEyeAi Aug 25 '26

It used to be believed that once you were past the age of 8, you couldn't fix amblyopia. Theres a lot of research now that shows that adults have the right brain plasticity to keep improving eyesight with amblyopia. (McGill study: https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/lazy-eye-disorder-promising-therapeutic-approach-226011).

It may be hard to find optomotrists willing to give adults vision therapy, I know I wasn't offered any even as a teen, but I'd reccomend online vision therapy exercises or at home vision training. I've been doing at-home vision therapy for the past few years and went from 20/50 to 20/30 in my bad eye.

1

u/glowcubr Aug 28 '26

I've heard that doing eye patching as an adult can cause horror fusionis: https://www.reddit.com/r/Strabismus/comments/1bppiew/do_not_use_patching_as_an_adult/

I think some people say that lazy eyes can be fixed surgically, though. Probably worth a visit to some sort of eye doctor to ask if horror fusionis is a real risk and also what your options are.

u/pcoutcast Any thoughts on that thread? ( https://www.reddit.com/r/Strabismus/comments/1bppiew/do_not_use_patching_as_an_adult/ )

2

u/pcoutcast Aug 29 '26

The exercises I have linked in the START HERE post do not include patching for amblyopia. The only case I've seen for patching in adults is unequal myopia.

1

u/glowcubr Aug 30 '26

Thanks :)

1

u/No_Possibility3863 2d ago

My son was diagnosed with amblyopia at age 10. His vision was 20/400 corrected. I was told there was no hope. I had found a story about a 60-year-old man with amblyopia, he developed macular degeneration in his good eye and regained sight in his amblyopic eye. I went home and put a patch on my son. I found a person who did vision therapy and within three weeks he was at 20/80 corrected. We continued patching for a couple years and got him to 20/30 corrected. Granted he was not an adult, but if a 60-year-old man can regain vision in his eye, I would imagine you could too!🙏

1

u/Burco21 1d ago

That is amazing, thank you so much