Wearing an eye patch longer corrects amblyopia
Monday, May 6 2013 | 00 h 00 min | News
Wearing an eye patch six hours a day instead of two hours is much more effective after a 10-week period. Now to convince the children…
Researchers from the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator (PEDI) group tested this strategy in 167 children whose amblyopia failed to improve after 12 weeks of two hours daily eye patching. After comparing a group that continued to wear the patch two hours a day with another group that wore the patch six hours a day, the researchers found significant differences. The visual acuity in 75% of children in the second group improved two lines or more on a standard test (with glasses).
The study shows that more eye patch time improves visual acuity. “Instead of starting with two hours and increasing, you could say if we want to achieve the optimum outcome in the shortest possible time, let’s start with a higher dose in the first place,” said Dr. Alistair Fielder, from City University, London.
Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/802876
