title: Treating amblyopia with liquid crystal glasses: a pilot study.
abstract: PURPOSE. To evaluate the use of liquid crystal glasses (LCG) for the treatment of amblyopia caused by refractive errors, strabismus, or both. METHODS. In this noncomparative, prospective, interventional case series, 28 children (age range, 4-7.8 years) with monocular amblyopia participated, of which 24 completed the study. In the LCG, the occluding and nonoccluding phases of the flicker were electronically set in all patients at a fixed rate. The rate was set so that accumulated occlusion was 5 hours during 8 hours' weartime. Occlusion was applied only to the good eye. All 24 children were followed up regularly for 9 months. Best corrected VA for distance and near, fixation patterns, and binocular function were measured. VA for distance was measured with the Snellen chart and for near with the Rossano/Weiss chart. RESULTS. Mean VA for distance at the end of the study (after 9 months) was 0.59 (SD, 0.16) compared with 0.27 (SD, 0.09) at the beginning (P < 0.001). Most of the children (92%) complied well with the treatment. (Good compliance was defined as wearing the LCG for at least 8 hours per day.) Stereopsis at the end of treatment was good (better than 60 sec arc) in 21% of the children compared with 8% at the beginning. No serious adverse events were recorded. CONCLUSIONS. The use of LCG in patients with amblyopia yielded an improvement in near and distance VA and in stereopsis. Treatment was well accepted by children and parents.
authors.affiliation: Goldschleger Eye Institute, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. spierera@post.tau.ac.il
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spierer
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raz
authors.forename: Omry
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Benezra
authors.forename: Rafi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Ilana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karshai
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Benezra
mesh_terms: D000550:Amblyopia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D015858:Anisometropia / Q000150:complications; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005139:Eyeglasses; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D050866:Liquid Crystals; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013285:Strabismus / Q000150:complications; D013997:Time Factors; D015348:Vision, Binocular / Q000502:physiology; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*