While these doctors are well intentioned, they are wrong. Eye doctors who believe that a lazy eye cannot be treated after age six simply lack the background and necessary training to correct a lazy eye in older children. Because they are not schooled in the functional remediation of binocular vision problems, they do not have the training to treat older children. It is true that correcting amblyopia in a younger child makes the treatment easier, but older children and even adult patients can be treated for a lazy eye through vision therapy. Vision Therapy Vision therapy is much akin to physical therapy for the eyes.
Vision therapy is prescribed by eye doctors who specialize in children's vision.
Vision therapy is provided by developmental optometrists who have received board certification in the diagnosis and treatment of children's vision disorders, including amblyopia and strabismus. The title of a doctor who is a specialist in vision therapy is Fellow in the College of Optometrists in Vision Development, or F.C.O.V.D. Vision therapy is highly successful in improving the function and performance of a lazy eye. Therapy corrects not only the poor vision in the lazy eye, but it also corrects the underlying problem of the brain's inability to align and use both eyes together. And this can be done at any age, even into adulthood. An older child or a patient with difficult complications will be in therapy for a longer period of time, but success at rehabilitating a lazy eye is possible for all children regardless of their age.