How to Tell if You Have a Lazy Eye
If left untreated, lazy eye can lead to blindness. Treatment for adults with lazy eye is often less successful than it is for children, who recover most easily from this condition. Children who begin lazy eye treatment before the age of 5 can expect almost perfect eyesight after treatment. Some research indicates that treatment can be successful on patients as old as 17. Follow these steps for more information.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Easy
Instructions
-
-
1
Look closely at your eyes in a mirror to see if one eye turns inward or outward. Ask someone else for help if you are unable to make this determination on your own.
-
2
Notice if one of your eyes seems stronger than the other or if your eyes seem out of sync. One eye's movements may not match those of the other eye.
-
3
Note whether you have trouble with depth perception. You may have trouble gauging the height of street curbs or stairs, or you might reach for a small item and find yourself grasping empty air instead.
-
4
Determine whether eyeglasses or contact lenses are ineffective in curing your vision problems. You may find that things look as blurry with your glasses or contact lenses as they do without them. You may even find that eyeglasses or contact lenses make your vision worse.
-
5
Seek the help of an eye care professional if you have problems with any of the above. You could have lazy eye. Be sure to have an examination specifically for lazy eye.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Although adult lazy eye is difficult to cure completely, adults with lazy eye should still seek treatment. Studies show that treatment for adult lazy eye can be reasonably successful.
Lazy eye treatment involves patching the stronger eye, using eye drops to blur the vision of the stronger eye or vision therapy.
An ordinary visual examination, which uses a chart to determine visual acuity, is inadequate to determine whether a person has lazy eye.
Lazy eye treatment is very different from that for crossed eyes.
