Video Game Treatment Could Help Correct 'Lazy Eye'

Playing video games along with standard treatment can help fix amblyopia, also called "lazy eye" in older children, finds study. Dr. Somen Ghosh found that his new approaches allowed about a third of the study participants, who were between 10 and 18 years old, achieved significant vision gains.

By the end of the one-year study conducted in an eye clinic in India, nearly 30 percent of the 100 participants achieved significant vision gains.

About 60 percent showed at least some improvement.

Significant gains were more likely in children who participated in Groups 3 or 4 of the four treatment regimens.

Treatment Group 3 completed daily video game practice and Group 4 took the supplement citicoline, which is associated with improved brain function.

Improvement was more likely in children younger than age 14 than in those 14 and older.

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The prevailing wisdom has been that if amblyopia is not diagnosed and corrected before a child reaches school age, it is difficult or impossible to correct.

But recently the United States-based Pediatric Eye Disease Investigation Group (PEDIG) reported significant vision gains in 27 percent of older children in a study funded by the National Eye Institute.

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This report motivated Dr. Ghosh to test new approaches to learn what might be particularly effective in this age group.

The study will be presented at the 115th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Source-ANI