Editing Amblyopia (section)

==Diagnosis==
Amblyopia is diagnosed by identifying low visual acuity in one or both eyes, out of proportion to the structural abnormality of the eye and excluding other visual disorders as causes for the lowered visual acuity. It can be defined as an interocular difference of two lines or more in acuity (e.g. on [[Snellen chart]]) when the eye optics are maximally corrected.<ref name="wright">{{cite book | vauthors =  Wright WK | title = Handbook of Pediatric Strabismus and Amblyopia | url =  https://archive.org/details/handbookpediatri00wrig_371 | url-access =  limited |place = New-York |publisher=Springer |date=2006 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/handbookpediatri00wrig_371/page/n111 103]–137 }}</ref> In young children, visual acuity is difficult to measure and can be estimated by observing the reactions of the patient when one eye is covered, including observing the patient's ability to follow objects with one eye.

Stereotests like the [[Stereopsis#Random dot stereotests|Lang stereotest]] are not reliable exclusion tests for amblyopia. A person who passes the Lang stereotest test is unlikely to have strabismic amblyopia, but could nonetheless have refractive or deprivational amblyopia.<ref name="SchieferWilhelm2007-p16">{{cite book|first1 = Ulrich | last1 = Schiefer | first2 = Helmut | last2 = Wilhelm | first3  =William | last3 = Hart | name-list-style = vanc |title=Clinical Neuro-Ophthalmology: A Practical Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xMsfcl2YfLoC&pg=PA16|year=2007|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-3-540-32708-0|page=16|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908154722/https://books.google.com/books?id=xMsfcl2YfLoC&pg=PA16|archive-date=8 September 2017}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Grossman DC, Curry SJ, Owens DK, Barry MJ, Davidson KW, Doubeni CA, Epling JW, Kemper AR, Krist AH, Kurth AE, Landefeld CS, Mangione CM, Phipps MG, Silverstein M, Simon MA, Tseng CW | display-authors = 6 | title = Vision Screening in Children Aged 6 Months to 5 Years: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement | journal = JAMA | volume = 318 | issue = 9 | pages = 836–844 | date = September 2017 | pmid = 28873168 | doi = 10.1001/jama.2017.11260 | s2cid = 205084845 }}</ref>