A special type of iPad game effectively helped in treating children with amblyopia in restoring their visual abilities, more than the standard treatment, researchers say.

Amblyopia has traditionally been viewed as a monocular disorder that can be treated by patching the fellow eye to force use of the amblyopic eye, but it does not always restore 20/20 vision or teach the eyes to work together.
In the study, the researchers from Retina Foundation of the Southwest in Texas, US, randomly assigned 28 children (average age, seven years) with amblyopia to binocular iPad game treatment and to patching treatment.

The action-oriented adventure iPad game required children to wear special glasses that separate game elements seen by each eye so that reduced-contrast elements are seen by the fellow eye, high-contrast elements are seen by the amblyopic eye, and high-contrast background elements are seen by both eyes.


The results revealed that the amblyopic eye showed best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at the two-week visit.