Binocular retinal birefringence scanning may be able to identify, already in very young children, amblyopia that is associated with strabismus, microstrabismus, or reduced fixation accuracy. Diagnosis and treatment of amblyopia as early as possible is necessary to keep the vision loss to a minimum. Screening for amblyopia is recommended in all people between three and five years of age. Treatment
Treatment of strabismic or anisometropic amblyopia consists of correcting the optical deficit (wearing the necessary spectacle prescription) and often forcing use of the amblyopic eye, by patching the good eye, or instilling topical atropine in the good eye, or both. : 130  Atropine appears to result in similar outcomes to patching. If there is overpatching or overpenalizing the good eye when treating amblyopia, "reverse amblyopia" can result. Eye patching is usually done on a part-time schedule of about 4–6 hours a day. Treatment is continued as long as vision improves. It is not worthwhile continuing to patch for more than 6 months if no improvement continues.Deprivation amblyopia is treated by removing the opacity as soon as possible followed by patching or penalizing the good eye to encourage the use of the amblyopic eye. The earlier the treatment is initiated, the easier and faster the treatment is and the less psychologically damaging. Also, the chance of achieving 20/20 vision is greater if treatment is initiated early.One of the German public health insurance providers, Barmer, has changed its policy to cover, as of 1 April 2014, the cost of software for amblyopic children whose condition did not improve through patching.
The app offers dedicated eye exercises that the patient performs while wearing an eyepatch.Evidence for vision therapy is unclear as of 2011. Older age
Treatment of individuals age 9 through to adulthood is possible through applied perceptual learning. Tentative evidence shows that perceptual training may be beneficial in adults. Epidemiology
Amblyopia occurs in between 2 and 5% of the population in Western countries. In the UK, 90% of visual health appointments in the child concern amblyopia.Depending on the chosen criterion for diagnosis, between 1 and 4% of the children have amblyopia. Research
A 2009 study, widely reported in the popular press, has suggested that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation may temporarily improve contrast sensitivity and spatial resolution in the affected eye of adults with amblyopia. This approach is still under development, and the results await verification by other researchers. Comparable results may be achieved using different types of brain stimulation, such as anodal transcranial direct current stimulation and theta burst rTMS.A 2013 study concluded that converging evidence indicates decorrelated binocular experience plays a pivotal role in the genesis of amblyopia and the associated residual deficits. Another study of 2013 suggests that playing a version of the popular game Tetris that is modified such that each eye sees separate components of the game may also help to treat this condition in adults.