Can amblyopia be cured? There are some people around us whose vision reaches normal immediately after they put on the right glasses. However, there are some people who find that their vision is not good until they enter kindergarten or elementary school, and their vision does not improve even after they have been examined and fitted with glasses. Doctors tell them that they have “amblyopia” and that they need not only glasses but also various treatments. Why is this? It turns out that there is a sensitive period of visual development in the early stages of life after birth. In other words, there is a great plasticity in the development of the eyes during the period from birth to the perfect development of vision. As the saying goes, “use is in and use is out”. The “use” is to make the macula of the eye fully feel the visual stimulus from the external environment, and form a clear rather than blurred image in the macula, and then this clear image as a visual signal, but also frequently through the visual path to the brain, so after repeated use, the visual system can establish a consolidated visual reflex. Or rather, the visual system can develop into a mature one. If for various reasons the visual signals are reduced or cannot be transmitted, the visual center of the brain has nothing to do because it does not receive signals, resulting in degeneration of the visual center and, of course, vision cannot be formed. In adults, the visual reflex is firmly established, i.e., the vision is well developed, and even if the visual signal afferent is reduced, the function of the visual center is not affected. Thus, the site of amblyopia is in the visual centers of the cerebral cortex. The period of visual sensitivity extends from a few months of life to about 8 years of age. The younger the age, the more sensitive the visual development and the greater the plasticity. Amblyopia occurs in infants and toddlers during the period of rapid visual development. During the sensitive period of visual development of infants and toddlers, especially within the first 3 years of life, the visual center of the brain can be impaired due to the reduced input of visual information and the poor quality of the input information for various reasons, which can result in low visual function of the affected children. When we see a car, the light reflected from the surface of the car stimulates the retina, and the image formed on the retina is a picture of a car, which is visual information. The visual pathway transmits this information to the brain and then forms vision, so we see a car. It is clear that visual information is not a jumble of light, but a specific image. Pictorial stimuli, or visual information, are extremely important to the developing visual system. Without image stimulation, the retina is deprived of the opportunity to receive visual information. The visual centers of the cerebral cortex stop developing due to the lack of visual information, and amblyopia is formed. Although the deprived eye itself is intact, the visual function is lost. Scientists suture the eyelid of the right eye of a newborn kitten to prevent this eye from seeing. 2 months later the sutures are removed, at which point the kitten becomes blind if the left eye is covered. The right eye was shown to be blind. A similar test was done with a baby monkey and the same results were obtained. Surprisingly, when adult cats or monkeys were used for the test, even if one eye was sutured for more than 1 year, it did not go blind. Where there is no obvious organic change in the eye and the distance visual acuity is less than 0.9 and cannot be corrected by wearing glasses, it is amblyopia, and this low vision is called amblyopic eye. Amblyopia is classified according to its severity: mild – vision between 0.8-0.6; moderate – vision between 0.5-0.2; severe – vision ≤ 0.1. The vast majority of amblyopic patients only show poor visual acuity, while the appearance of the eye looks the same as a normal person, and there are no abnormalities found in the structure of various parts of the eye, with the right glasses to correct vision can not reach normal. According to relevant statistics, the prevalence of amblyopia is 3%, and a conservative estimate is that there are more than 10 million amblyopic children in China. Generally, children above the age of 8 have nearly mature visual development and have the ability to resist the various factors that trigger amblyopia, so if they develop normally, amblyopia will not occur again. The lower the degree of amblyopia, the more serious the degree of low vision. The longer the amblyopia is not treated in a timely manner, the more the amblyopia will be consolidated and the more difficult it will be to recover the vision, and there will be no possibility of recovery after adulthood. Therefore, once the time for treatment is lost, the low visual acuity may be lifelong. More importantly, amblyopic patients lose binocular vision or binocular monovision. We know that stereopsis is the most perfect and highest part of binocular vision development, obviously, it is a necessary visual function for all fine work, and it is precisely this important function that is lost in amblyopic patients. Therefore, it is very important to actively prevent and treat amblyopia. Amblyopia is very dangerous, so can it be cured? The doctor’s answer is yes: as long as the treatment is timely and appropriate, amblyopia can be completely cured. The special feature of amblyopia prevention and treatment is that it is very time-sensitive – if the prevention and treatment is timely, the effect will be remarkable; if you miss the time, you will have lifelong regrets. The treatment of amblyopia is important to persist. It should be done under the guidance of a doctor. The treatment time for amblyopia can be as short as 2-3 years or as long as 7-8 years. Both parents and children should have full patience and confidence. Correction of refractive error is the basis of treatment, and it is essential to have an optometry every six months. It is also important to visit the hospital every 2-3 months for a review and timely adjustment of the treatment plan. If strabismus is also present, the timing of surgery should be determined under medical supervision. There are many kinds of treatment for amblyopia. Besides the prerequisite of wearing proper glasses, sometimes some treatment methods are not easily accepted by people and cannot be adhered to. For example, the commonly used masking therapy is to use a black cloth to cover up the relatively well-sighted eye and force the amblyopic eye to look at things to enhance the stimulation of visual signals to the retina. If both eyes have amblyopia and the difference in vision is small, you may have to cover both eyes alternately. This treatment is simple and easy to use, and it is very effective, so be sure to adhere to your doctor’s instructions. There are also many other amblyopia treatments and now they are starting to try taking some medication. But regardless of that treatment method, it is important to do it under the guidance of a doctor and review it regularly to adjust the treatment plan in time. Especially taking medication, some of the current medications are acting on the central nervous system and are only used for patients who have not been effective using conventional methods because of their possible effects on growth and development, and must be used with caution.