What should I do for my child’s amblyopia?

  Amblyopia in children is often manifested by unclear vision and the need to look closer, but because children are too young to express their feelings accurately, it is difficult to detect early and often misses the best time for treatment. So, when is the best time to treat amblyopia in children? How should amblyopia be treated?  What is the best age to treat amblyopia in children?  The younger the child, the stronger the plasticity and the better the treatment effect. Therefore, amblyopia should be treated as early as possible. If treated during the sensitive period of visual development, that is, before the age of 6, amblyopia may be completely corrected, but once the visual development is mature, that is, once the age is older than 12, there is very little hope for cure or even improvement.  What are the principles of amblyopia treatment?  Generally speaking, refractive correction and masking therapy are the main treatments for amblyopia. The principle of treatment is to let the amblyopic eye see more and use more to improve visual acuity and restore binocular monocularity, which means that the child can see with both eyes at the same time, and the objects in both eyes are of the same size and clarity and can be integrated together. The child’s refractive status can be clarified through dilated eye examinations, and then glasses can be worn to correct refractive errors and refractive aberrations; or the primary disease, such as strabismus, can be actively treated; on this basis, the eye with relatively good vision can be covered, and only the amblyopic eye can be used to see, and the vision will slowly improve. On the basis of masking, you can also do some amblyopia training, such as bead threading and tracing, so that the amblyopic eye can see and use more and make the vision improve.  Can all amblyopic children do internet training?  In the clinic, we often hear parents discussing internet training and amblyopia therapy devices, believing that they are very effective. Is this really true? Can all children do them? In fact, internet training and amblyopia therapy are the same as fine visual acuity training such as bead stringing and tracing, which are mainly used to train children’s eyesight through graphics on the computer. The only difference is that, compared to bead stringing and other training, training on the computer is more fun, and the child can play games in the process of treatment effect. However, it is not possible to do internet training alone, it is also done on the basis of refractive correction and masking, which is an adjunctive treatment.  It is worth noting that not all children with amblyopia can do internet training, and generally children with combined myopia are not recommended to do internet training, even if some special cases need to do, the intensity of training should be reduced, because long time looking at the near, especially at the computer, may make the child’s myopia progress faster, and do more harm than good.