Researchers find new way to improve vision in kids with ‘lazy eye’

Kids with lazy eye or amblyopia, a condition in which the brain favors one eye over the other, are normally treated eye-patching. But a new study has suggested that a special iPad game may be even better to improve vision.

Researchers divided 28 kids with a lazy eye into two groups. Kids in one group were asked to play an iPad game, while kids in the other group were given eye-patching treatment. The children ranged in age from 4 to 10 years.

Study author Krista Kelly, a researcher at the Crystal Charity Ball Pediatric Vision Evaluation Center at the Dallas-based Retina Foundation of the Southwest, explained that the kids in the iPad group were asked to play the special game at home for an hour a day, 5 days a week for 2 weeks. Meanwhile, children in the other group were asked to wear an eye patch for two hours daily, 7 days a week for 2 weeks.

Results of the study, published in JAMA Ophthalmology, showed that improvement in the lazy eye was notable better in the kids who played the iPad game than those who were given the traditional eye-patching treatment.

Sharing the results of the study, Kelly said, “We found that the game was better than patching and children in that group improved twice as much.”

In kids with lazy eye, the brain favors one eye over the other because the other eye is weaker due to muscle or other visual issues. This condition affects nearly 3 out of 100 children in the United States.