Quick answer
The biggest myth is that lazy eye can only be treated before age 6 or 7. Research shows the visual brain stays adaptable, so adults can improve too. Another is that patching alone is enough: it does not train both eyes to work together, so many eye doctors now add binocular vision therapy.
Over the years amblyopia was thought to be only treatable if caught before age 6. This myth has been disproven. Current research shows that amblyopia can be treated even in adults: we know that there is “plasticity” in the human visual brain at nearly any age. CureSee have successfully treated amblyopes well into their 50’s.
A commonly prescribed form of treatment for amblyopia, yet insufficient by today’s standards, is what is called “occlusion therapy”. Occlusion therapy or “patching” it is where the patient wears an eye patch on the “good eye” for typically hours at a time during their waking hours. While the research shows that a child’s visual brain will show improvement in their amblyopic eye sight with a patching regimen, this “old school” approach (when used alone) can be very difficult and disruptive for the developing child to handle. It creates visual disorientation and confusion in spatial judgements. This in turn creates frustration and often emotional upset in the patient. Furthermore, unilateral patching therapy only teaches a patient how to be a “one eyed person” since it does not address the underlying cause for the amblyopia which is the lack of binocular (two-eyed) vision development.
Therefore today’s “best practices” approach for the treatment of amblyopia involves a combination of monocular and binocular training of the visual brain through home or office-based vision therapy.
CureSee helps you overcome the problem by customizing the exercises as per your visual needs under the supervision of your prescribing eye doctor, who tracks your everyday progress so that you receive best treatment as per your progress.
This treatment approach yields the best outcomes, often resulting in normalization of eye sight in the amblyopic eye and the development of stereo vision (3-D vision) for the child. Many eye care practitioners now combine patching with binocular vision therapy rather than relying on patching alone.
Medically reviewed by Amit Sahni (B.Optom), Co-founder and COO of CureSee, on 19 October 2026. This article is general information about eye health, not medical advice. Please talk to your eye doctor about your own eyes and treatment.