Binocular video game approach to amblyopia

Contrast rebalancing treatments that force both eyes of amblyopic children to work together may provide better outcomes than patching in terms of visual acuity of the affected eye while also enhancing stereoacuity, Krista Kelly PhD told the 2020 WSPOS Virtual Meeting. “Normal visual development requires equal input from the two eyes so connections can be formed that combine this information in the brain the key is that both eyes must work together during development,” said Dr Kelly, Retina Foundation of the Southwest, Dallas, Texas. Research has shown that decreasing fellow-eye contrast vision reduces suppression of the amblyopic eye, suggesting that amblyopic patients have a structurally rally intact binocular visual system, she noted. Based on that research she and her colleagues have been investigating amblyopia treatments that rebalances the contrast between the two eyes. She highlighted a study that compared outcomes between patching and the use of a video game, called Dig Rush, wherein anaglyph glasses provide high contrast video to the amblyopic eye and low contrast video to the fellow eye. It showed that at two weeks vision improved by a mean of 1.5 lines among those using the video game, compared to only 0.7 lines among those undergoing patching. Moreover, after four weeks almost 40% of those in the video game group achieved normal vision.