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Medical Forum / General / Vision / February 2007

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Amblyopia / Lazy Eye  - Does this treatment work?

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mail306949@10minutemail.com - 19 Feb 2007 13:44 GMT
Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this company which
claims it has success in correcting a Amblyopia .
http://www.msobiz.com/site/nvc/

I also found this BBC News report about Amblyopia:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4849244.stm

Company info here:
http://www.virart.nott.ac.uk/ibit/

billy bob
Dr. Leukoma - 19 Feb 2007 13:56 GMT
On Feb 19, 7:44 am, mail306...@10minutemail.com wrote:
> Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this company which
> claims it has success in correcting a Amblyopia .http://www.msobiz.com/site/nvc/
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> billy bob

Interesting.  That gizmo reminded me of an instrument we used in
optometry school, called an "amblyoscope."

The other link about the video racing game reminded me of the
techniques we used in optometry school to help eliminate suppression.
One of the most popular was a game called "Pong."  It was basically a
table tennis game with variable speed and difficulty.  I used to tabe
a red cellulose filter on one side and a green filter on the other
side of the screen and have the child wear red/green glasses.

DrG
Dr Judy - 19 Feb 2007 16:25 GMT
On Feb 19, 8:44 am, mail306...@10minutemail.com wrote:
> Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this company which
> claims it has success in correcting a Amblyopia .http://www.msobiz.com/site/nvc/
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> billy bob

Conventional amblyopia therapy works as well as the stats presented
for this gizmo.  Looks like it may use polarized filters instead of an
eye patch.  Conventional treatement also uses low tech versions of
polarized filters and red/green filters during therapy.

Conventional amblyopia therapy requires using the eyes for detailed
tasks while the good eye is patched or while wearing various filters
to isolate various functions.  If this gizmo makes therapy more
interesting and fun for a patient who will not comply with
conventional therapy, then it may be worth the cost.

Dr Judy
mail306949@10minutemail.com - 20 Feb 2007 10:23 GMT
I in my thirties and have a lazy eye.

Is there any point in me getting vision therapy (conventional or
otherwise)?

I did some googling and most of the info I came across said that if
amblyopia was not
cured a young age, than it was almost impossible to fix in adults.

Where do you think the amblyopia condition will be in say 5/10/15
years?

billy bob
Dr Judy - 20 Feb 2007 20:19 GMT
> I in my thirties and have a lazy eye.
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> amblyopia was not
> cured a young age, than it was almost impossible to fix in adults.

Whether it is worth trying depends on why you are amblyopic, how deep
it is, whether you are suppressing the bad eye and whether you had any
therapy before age 17.  There are some tests that sort of predict
improvement.

Amblyopia due to strabismis, due to visual obstruction at birth, deep
amblyopia (VA 20/200 or worse) or no previous therapy have less chance
of success.

If your amblyopia is due to large refractive error differences, if you
have a lot of astigmatism, if you are not strabismic, if you had some
therapy for even a limited time as a child or your current best
corrected acuity is better than 20/100 you have some chance of
improvement.

Because of the very individual factors, you need to find an
optometrist or orthoptist who does a lot of vision therapy, have an
assessement and decide with the therapist whether it is worth trying.

> Where do you think the amblyopia condition will be in say 5/10/15
> years?

Therapy hasn't really changed much in the past 100 years -- the
solution is to catch it early, correct refractive error or strabismus
and force use of the eye through patching and therapy.  I don't think
there will be much change to that.  The specific therapy and mode of
patching may vary, as in the gizmo you described but the fundmentals
are the same.

Dr Judy

> billy bob
abid.ghani@bosscomputing.com - 27 Feb 2007 13:45 GMT
Dear Dr. Susan,

I am not having much luck here in the UK. I went to another optician
today and was told that Amblyopia is untreatable in adults.

The first optician didn't even mention the condition, just told me I
needed glasses.

The second one told me there was a slim chance (10-20%) of me being
able to improve my vision if I was to try treatment, and didn't
encourage it at all.

I have to say I am pretty disappointed in the optometry profession,
there seems to be a lot of defensiveness when a patient does his own
research and wants to find improvements in ways other than taking to
wearing glasses.

The messages I am getting:

Amblyopia is untreatable in adults.

After pushing...

Ok, you may get some improvements, but it's slim

After insisting...

Ok, you can find out how severe your condition is but I don't
encourage, (why not?)

After more insisting...

I'll write a referral note, which will take me 10 seconds, so you can
go and have it investigated further and find out if its treatable.
Just get out of my office and stop wasting my time...oh! and don't
forget to pay at reception

I managed to squeeze a referral note from the second optician, who
wrote the 'patient wishes to pursue specialist advice based on his own
research'.

Abid Ghani

-----Original Message-----
From: SUDANOD@aol.com [mailto:SUDANOD@aol.com]
Sent: 23 February 2007 02:59
To: Abid.Ghani@AIG.com
Subject: Re: amblyopia

Dear Mr Ghani

There are many reasons why someone might develop amblyopia. Some are
treatable with Visual Therapy and some are not.  please see this
website www.covd.org  it may help you locate a behavioral optometrist
that treats amblyopia in your country.

Sincerely,

Dr. Susan C. Danberg OD FCOVD
Global Clinical Advisor SOLCIOE
tel 860-657-9189
eve 203-248-6334
cel 203-627-1084
fax 203-248-1132

> > I in my thirties and have a lazy eye.
>
[quoted text clipped - 39 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -
Dan Abel - 27 Feb 2007 16:27 GMT
> I am not having much luck here in the UK. I went to another optician
> today and was told that Amblyopia is untreatable in adults.

> I have to say I am pretty disappointed in the optometry profession,
> there seems to be a lot of defensiveness when a patient does his own
> research and wants to find improvements in ways other than taking to
> wearing glasses.

Sometimes people have legs that are too short.  They reach to the
ground, but the patients still want them longer.  The leg doctors refuse
to treat this.  Why is that?
Neil Brooks - 27 Feb 2007 17:00 GMT
> In article <1172583905.864049.193...@q2g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
>
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> ground, but the patients still want them longer.  The leg doctors refuse
> to treat this.  Why is that?

Perhaps this poster was referring to options like vision therapy--
widely believed to offer promise in amblyopic patients.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3
307436&dopt=Citation


OR: http://tinyurl.com/39jcn6

Has anybody else noticed that--recently AND over YEARS--our favorite
Net Loon (yes, Otis: that's you) has changed the tenor and timbre of
perfectly reasonable posters to borderline-snappy AND .... caused the
overwhelming exodus of those compassionate docs who--for whatever
their individual reasons--HAD chosen to help the inquisitive souls in
ocular need.

If you HAD a conscience, Otis, it would trouble you for all eternity.
The damage you do--both directly and indirectly--is nearly
incalculable.

I'm counting on the State of Pennsylvania, though, to continue trying
to calculate....
Dr Judy - 27 Feb 2007 18:34 GMT
> Perhaps this poster was referring to options like vision therapy--
> widely believed to offer promise in amblyopic patients.
>
> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&...
>
> OR:http://tinyurl.com/39jcn6

Vision therapy for amblyopia in children is successful, the results
for adults are poor.  The original poster is over 30, his chances of
improvement are very slim.

Dr judy
Dr Judy - 27 Feb 2007 18:32 GMT
On Feb 27, 8:45 am, abid.gh...@bosscomputing.com wrote:
> Dear Dr. Susan,
>
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> research and wants to find improvements in ways other than taking to
> wearing glasses.

The optometrists you have seen are just being honest and realistic.
Amblyopia therapy in adults is not very successful, especially if
there is deep amblyopia, strabismus, large refractive error difference
between the eyes and no previous history of therapy.

Your goal of achieving improvement without glasses is not attainable.
The first step in amblyopia therapy is to fully correct refractive
error in the amblyopic eye which means glasses or contact lenses.  The
glasses need to be worn before, during and after therapy.  If good
acuity can be established in the amblyopic eye, you will need to
continue to wear glasses to see well, stopping the glasses will mean
poor vision. If a patient refuses to wear glasses, there is no point
in attempting amblyopia therapy.

Vision therapy works best in children under age 6, fair results in
children age 6 to 12, some improvement in children age 12 to 17,
little to no improvement in adults.

Vision therapy is available in the UK mostly via orthoptists and I
suspect most of them are associated with children's hospitals or
children's vision clinic.  You can contact the British Orthoptist
Association for names.

http://www.orthoptics.org.uk/

Dr Judy
Dr. Leukoma - 27 Feb 2007 22:05 GMT
> On Feb 27, 8:45 am, abid.gh...@bosscomputing.com wrote:
>
[quoted text clipped - 43 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -

The real pity is that he didn't have this diagnosed as a child when
therapy might have had a chance of working.

DrG
 
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