Researchers have found that programmable electronic glasses are as effective in improving the lazy eyes of children as traditional eye patches. Results from a new small study on lazy eye were presented over the weekend at the AAO 2015, the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Lazy eye, or amblyopia, results from an eye not developing normally during the early years of childhood. Still the most common cause of impaired vision in children, it is important to treat before age 8 or blindness could develop.
Researchers have developed new electronic glasses that use the same occlusion treatment method as traditional eye drops and patches, blocking vision in the best eye to force the brain to rely on the lazier eye.
To occlude the vision without the discomfort or anxiety associated with drops and patches the new glasses have been developed with lenses that are liquid crystal display (LCD), so they can be easily programmed to turn opaque, and therefore occlude vision, in either the right or left lens, and for the desired length of time. As many children also still need glasses to correct their vision, the lenses can also be filled with the required prescription.
To test the effectiveness of the digital glasses versus traditional eye patches, the Glick Eye Institute at Indiana University in the US spilt 33 children — all glasses wearers aged between 3 and 8 — into two groups. One group wore a traditional patch for two hours a day, and the other group wore the glasses for four hours a day. By the end of the trial both groups showed equal improvements in their lazy eye.
The glasses could represent an advantage over traditional treatment methods in terms of how children accept them. Eye patches are often unpopular, and the researchers cited a recent study that found that 25% of children experience anxiety before taking eye drops, while 15% refuse to take them at all.
The digital Amblyz occlusion glasses have also been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as a medical device, and are now available in the US from ophthalmologists priced at around $450.
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