How can you fix a lazy eye?

Yes.: First of all, it depends on the age of the patient. Possible solutions include glasses, patching, or surgery. Talk to your ophthalmologist (not optometrist).

Depends: It depends what the lazy eye is from. If it is due to crossing or drifting, you can correct it back to a normal position, but if it has been present since birth, the vision may or may not improve. In rare instances, correcting a drifting eye could give you double vision. Sometimes an eye is lazy because the signal to the brain never formed appropriately. Not much can be done for that.

Age matters: An infant with a lazy eye will often respond to either patching or wearing modified eye glasses. An adult with a lazy eye generally requires surgery, as would a child that did not respond to more conservative measures.

Rx May help: Ambliopia is the process where the brain ignores the "camera" picture from one eye because it is less clear or causes double vision. It can sometimes be improved if the weaker eye is strengthened (glasses), the stronger eye is patched or if the eye is lined up better with surgery. If the process has gone on too long, the brain ignores the fix & surgery is simply cosmetic.

It depends.: Lazy eye, or amblyopia, refers to poor development of the relationship of the brain with one or both eyes. It can be associated with a misaligned eye, a droopy lid, a problem in the lens or cornea, or just refractive error. The treatment depends on the cause, which can involve glasses, patching, eyedrops, or surgery. See a pediatric ophthalmologist to determine.