Posts Tagged ‘amblyopia’

A new study, about amblyopia, has been published and it is really getting attention. From CBS news to Huffington Post to CNET, everyone is covering it, probably because they get to use the word “Tetris” in the title. Tetris, of course, is the hugely addictive block-stack game that, at least in my memory, was the first hand-held videogame blockbuster.

I am extremely glad to see this study and I do have some thoughts on it:
First, do not get too excited about the Tetris part. While I really have no doubt that Tetris and similar games stimulate visual planning and cognitive development, I suspect that the main benefit of using Tetris in this study is that it is very engaging, requires attention to visual detail, and requires the  player to make decisions based on visual information. Basically this is true for most video games (and real world games, for that matter). So Tetris is not the magic here.

What IS a big deal about this study is the goggles – they required the eyes to work together to play the game. If you play, you can’t just shut off the amblyopic eye, or you’ll lose because you won’t see the falling blocks. And that isn’t motivating or good therapy.  It isn’t patching or covering the good eye because you won’t see the blocks on the bottom. You still won’t win. This is like conventional patching. You can stimulate the amblyopic eye (upgrading the modem), but that alone only helps somewhat.

What this study shows is that only when both eyes can see and are given the opportunity to work together to achieve a common visual goal is there significant improvement in the amblyopic eye. In my internet analogy, this is not only giving the amblyopic eye a 4G smartphone but making sure it is net savvy. Both eyes are now friends on Facebook and Twitter so they can work together in real time to solve visual-spatial problems efficiently. (Just to be clear: the eyes do not use Facebook, and they do not communicate directly – all that happens in the brain).

By Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
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The American Optometric Association recently held a School Readiness Summit: Focus on Vision in which doctors, nurses, educators and advocates for children’s health gathered to examine learning-related vision issues that are keeping children from achieving in the classroom. This summit was created to address the concerns that our current system is flawed and a policy shift is needed. The problem is that currently, the U.S. educational system and some health care providers rely heavily on vision screenings to discover the kids that need comprehensive exams. These screenings do catch some types of vision problems but they can miss about 75% of those children that have learning-related vision problems. Detecting these vision problems is very important as “studies show that much of what children learn comes though vision, and undetected and untreated eye and vision disorders in children, such as amblyopia and strabismus, can result in vision loss, additional costly treatments, delayed reading and poorer outcomes in school.”

The take-home statement that the summit produced is that comprehensive eye exams must serve as the foundation to determine school readiness in school-aged children. Another important point established at this meeting is the establishment of the link between healthy vision and classroom learning.

This historic summit is an important step in ensuring that children receive the proper detection and treatment of vision problems before they become detrimental to their learning. Here at Bright Eyes Family Vision Care, we are excited to see these changes being made, since it has been our goal from the beginning to not only catch vision problems at an early stage, evidenced by the InfantSEE program that we offer that provides free eye exams to infants between the age of 6 months and 1 year of age, but to also treat certain types of problems through our extensive one-on-one vision therapy program.

If you have any questions regarding the InfantSEE program, vision therapy program, or would like to schedule a comprehensive eye exam for your child before they start school, give our office a call or come in to schedule.

All the best,

Justin Schoonover, CPO

Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Located in the Westchase area of Tampa.

It’s true! According to several recent entertainment stories such as this one from Engadget,  Johnny Depp is unable to see the 3-D effects in the very movies that he stars in. Specifically the upcoming  Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which is to be released May 20th.

They way Depp described it, “I’m unable to see in 3D. My eyes don’t see in 3D. I have a weird eye… It just doesn’t work.”

While  all this may seem like a small bit of movie trivia to many people, this may remind a lot of folks of themselves… or their children.  We don’t know exactly what is weird about his “eye”, whether it is amblyopia (often called “lazy eye”) or some other condition. But we do know that many of the types of problems can be detected at a very early age. It is recommended that babies have their first eye exam at six months old. Treatment such as glasses or contacts or medical procedures to prevent further problems may allow the patient to have as normal vision as possible…. even normal 3-D vision. Also, vision therapy may be an option to give 3-D vision to patients,  young or old. The book “Fixing My Gaze”  by Dr. Susan Barry is an excellent example of this.

The recent news about Johnny Depp is just one more reminder that if you or anyone you know has trouble with 3-D movies you should see an optometrist.

Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Located in the Westchase area of Tampa.

A recent study came out yesterday that has a lot of people talking. Acupuncture may be as effective in treating amblyopia (lazy eye) as patching.

From the CNN story Needles trump patches in treating kids’ eye problem:

In the randomized trial, researchers compared the effectiveness of two hours of daily patching therapy with acupuncture for treating lazy eye in 88 children aged 7 to 12. All children had already worn glasses for at least 16 weeks. 43 of the children were randomly assigned to the acupuncture treatment group, receiving five treatments per week that targeted five needle insertion sites. 45 children in the patch group had their stronger eye patched for two hours per day and were instructed to do activities such as reading and typing, which helps to strengthen near vision in the weaker eye.

What do I think about this? I don’t know. I’m not highly educated in acupuncture. I do think it has it’s place. I do know that patching alone is not as effective as vision therapy because patching treats one eye and not both. (See this recent post by Dr. Len Press for additional info). So it is not compelling that acupuncture is better than patching.

I also know that amblyopia is much more than a visual acuity problem. It is a problem of many visual skills including focusing and perception. So much more extensive research needs to be done. But this is a good sign that ophthalmologists and visual scientists are looking into complex areas of vision and visual treatment.

Before anyone undertakes acupuncture for amblyopia, I do recommend a comprehensive visual and eye health evaluation by an optometrist who specializes in children’s vision. If you need to find one, COVD is a great place to start.

So that is my opinion. What do you think about acupuncture for amblyopia?

Posted in Children's Vision, Vision News, Vision Science, Vision Therapy | Tags: acupuncture, amblyopia, lazy eye, research, Vision Therapy | 5 Comments »