Ketamine, a drug that is used as an anesthesia in hospital settings to induce loss of consciousness, was found to be able to restore vision from Amblyopia. Ketamine is commonly used as a long-lasting antidepressant. The scheduled III drug may be elusive, but there is evidence that it may control how the nervous system makes structural changes in response to internal and external demands, a process called neural plasticity.
Amblyopia is condition commonly known as "Lazy Eye", which is when reduced vision in one eye causes abnormal visual development in children. It is generally developers from birth up to age 7. The lazy eye usually wanders inward or outward. The visual impairments of amblyopia can continue into adulthood with worsening symptoms if left untreated. Some may have permanent vision loss before they even reach adulthood.
Luckily, a new study published in Current Biology in 2020 has shown that sub-anesthetic Ketamine can reactivate adult cortical plasticity to restore vision from Amblyopia. A single dose of ketamine reactivates adult mouse visual cortical plasticity and promotes functional recovery of visual acuity defects from Amblyopia. Although the study was only done in mice, the possibility of it being able to reverse the effects of lazy eye in adults is very exciting.