Monday, April 22, 2013

Patching alone is not good enough for amblyopia treatment

This point, that was made in a study published in the September 2010 issue of the journal Optometry & Vision Science should be required reading for every amblyopia patient (or their parents):
amblyopia is an intrinsically binocular problem and not the monocular problem on which current patching treatment is predicated. Thought of in this way, the binocular problem involving suppression should be tackled at the very outset if one is to achieve a good binocular outcome as opposed to hoping binocular vision will be regained simply as a consequence of acuity recovery in the amblyopic eye, which is the current approach and which is often not found to be the case.
Developmental (behavioural) optometrists (which is what we are) treat amblyopia using the better approach. If you are looking for a developmental or behavioural optometrist, visit the website of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development.

For more information on amblyopia, including alternatives to patching, visit www.amblyopia.ca.