Comparison between Amblyopia Treatment with Glasses Only and Combination of Glasses and Open-Type Binocular “Occlu-Pad” Device

• Main Authors: Yo Iwata, Tomoya Handa, Hitoshi Ishikawa, Toshiaki Goseki, Nobuyuki Shoji
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2018-01-01
• Series: BioMed Research International
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/2459696

We evaluated amblyopia treatment, comparing training with glasses only and training with glasses and the Occlu-pad, a binocular open-type amblyopia training device. Forty-six children (4.8±1.1 years) diagnosed with anisometropic amblyopia, all wearing complete correction glasses, were treated either with glasses only, or with glasses in combination with the Occlu-pad (training time: 2 days a week, 30 minutes per day). We compared visual acuity scores at 3 and 6 months after treatment had started, and examined the compliance rate for the Occlu-pad training. Three months as well as 6 months after amblyopia treatment started, the “Occlu-pad treatment group” showed significantly improved visual acuity, compared to the “Glasses treatment group” (at both 3 and 6 months: p<0.0001). The compliance rate for using the Occlu-pad was 88.4±18.7% after 3 months and 69.6±19.5%, after 6 months. There was no significant correlation between the training time using the Occlu-pad and improvement in visual acuity (3 months: p=0.97; 6 months: p=0.55). The compliance rate for months 4 to 6 was significantly lower than that for months 1 to 3 (p=0.003). Amblyopia treatment using the Occlu-pad device in combination with glasses led to a better effect than treatment with glasses alone.