I’ve read there are two types of amblyopia, strabismic and anisometropic (refractive). I suspect that an anisometropia problem can create a strabismic problem if an eyeglass lens fails to focus on an exact area of the retina that facilitates binocular “stereopsis”. Binocular stereopsis is like the brain’s ability to process binocular angular disparity perceived between the two binocular ocular images, thereby creating binocular 3D space perception. After the lens magnification problem is corrected, I believe that eye exams should have much more extensive 3D tests than they generally do now for proper lens alignment. The eye doctors who I’ve known do not seem to have their acts together on this.
If you can see 3D movies but have predominantly monocular vision, then perhaps the lens focus isn’t too far off from the exact area on the retina that stimulates stereopsis - like a bell curve as you get your focus closer to that less-than-2mm area.
Binocular stereopsis enables a person with normal vision to see the 3rd image (aka magic eye image) that is embedded in a 2D stereogram. If you have monocular or predominantly monocular vision, then you can’t normally see the 3rd image. I suppose many people with amblyopia or strabismus also have latent binocular stereopsis. A pair of prism glasses from a 3D store might allow you to see the magic eye stereogram images. I suppose this would depend on how bad your suppressed eye really is. Prism eyeglasses might also work with colored or polarized 3D viewing glasses - you’d have to experiment with them to know for sure.
There are other depth perception cues which are monocular. And everyone seems to have space/depth perception. Even blind people.
For me, an interesting remedy for “deeper” space/depth perception in everyday life has been obliquely linear polarized glasses. I use them like sunglasses. These create a “polarization disparity” which, I believe, somehow relieves the suppression instinct and creates a better balance between all available depth perception cues. For me the world now seems less flat in front of my eyes. Trees, leaves, branches, objects suddenly seem to be out there in 3d space. I posted about this a year and a half ago on the Usenet, “Mundane Depth Perception Remedy”. I just found in the wiki article on stereopsis which would implly that this polarization disparity might create so-called “shadow stereopsis”:
“In 1989 Medina demonstrated with photographs that retinal images with no parallax disparity but with different shadows are fused stereoscopically, imparting depth perception to the imaged scene. He named the phenomenon “shadow stereopsis.” Shadows are therefore an important, stereoscopic cue for depth perception. He showed how effective the phenomenon is by taking two photographs of the Moon at different times, and therefore with different shadows, making the Moon to appear in 3D stereoscopically, despite the absence of any other stereoscopic cue.[footnote]”
From this I wonder if there is actually a small amount of monocular stereopsis in each eye. If there is, it would be based on a much smaller amount of parallax (less than, let’s say one millimeter) than binocular parallax (about 65 millimeters).
A linear polarization disparity happens with everyday objects because most reflected light from objects are in some way linearly polarized. The differentially polarized lenses should help detect this, and a polarized monocle might also work to some extent.
I more recently read about “Stereo Sue”. Her vision problem was mainly strabismic. Her lens refraction was a pretty good 20/40 in each eye. In the next edition of her book “Fixing My Gaze”, I’d like her to include a list of her eye doctor and psychiatry bills. Just because the eye doctor regime failed to aim our eyeglasses right.