New amblyopia treatment protocols have long-lasting results without patching!
Recently, Dr. Leanna Dudley went to the annual College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD) conference in Toronto, Canada. Here are some highlights of that meeting, including some of the latest information on the latest treatment protocols for strabismus and amblyopia.
LECTURE
Dr. Dudley co-presented a 2-day course titled The Successful Treatment of Strabismus and Amblyopia. This hands-on course provided the attendees with the latest techniques in treatment, including neuro-functional lens prescribing and new treatment protocols for esotropia. Dr. Dudley will be presenting some of this information at the upcoming Colorado Vision Summit meeting in July, during a 4-hour course titled Successful Treatment of Strabismus.
NEURO-FUNCTIONAL APPROACH
The latest treatment protocols for amblyopia include lens prescribing techniques that encourage development of binocular vision and stereopsis. Often, this means it is not necessary to prescribe the maximum amount of prescription on the amblyopic eye, and the prescription on the dominant eye is increased to slightly penalize the eye. Also, with the updated treatment protocols, patching is no longer necessary to treat amblyopia and strabismus. Esotropia is treated with a developmental approach with emphasis on peripheral vision, peripheral fusion, and visual-vestibular activities to encourage binocularity naturally.
NEW RESEARCH
A retrospective amblyopia study was published by Dr. Pilar Vergara Gimenez and her colleagues using the neuro-functional prescribing treatment for amblyopia. In this study of 28 patients (age 4 – 55 years), she found that the average resulting stereopsis was 30” or better, and the average visual acuity improvement was 20/25 or better in the amblyopic eye. These improvements were consistent in a 1-year follow-up with no regression. This is groundbreaking, and she explains step by step in this article how she achieved these results.
If you have questions about the neuro-functional treatment approach to strabismus and amblyopia, or any other patient questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
