Video game play as amblyopia treatment adjunct

1 October 2018 | Fiona Rowe (Prof) | Paediatric Ophthalmology / Strabismus

The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of monocular video game play as a supplement to occlusion therapy in the treatment of anisometropic amblyopia (AA). This was a prospective study of 68 patients aged six to 14 years. Occlusion was for six hours per day and video gaming for one hour per day in group 1. Group 2 had only occlusion therapy for six hours per day. The mean intraocular visual acuity was 0.63±0.10 logMAR. Significantly better visual acuity was achieved for group 1 with a gain of 2.1 lines versus 1.7 lines for group 2. Contrast sensitivity did not show any improvement. In comparison of ages 6-9 and 10-14 years, vision gain was significantly better for group 1 but younger patients continued to show improvement at three month follow-up. The authors conclude that video game play along with occlusion has an advantage to occlusion alone in improving vision in previously untreated AA.