title: The role of suppression in amblyopia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study had three main goals: to assess the degree of suppression in patients with strabismic, anisometropic, and mixed amblyopia; to establish the relationship between suppression and the degree of amblyopia; and to compare the degree of suppression across the clinical subgroups within the sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using both standard measures of suppression (Bagolini lenses and neutral density [ND] filters, Worth 4-Dot test) and a new approach involving the measurement of dichoptic motion thresholds under conditions of variable interocular contrast, the degree of suppression in 43 amblyopic patients with strabismus, anisometropia, or a combination of both was quantified.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was good agreement between the quantitative measures of suppression made with the new dichoptic motion threshold technique and measurements made with standard clinical techniques (Bagolini lenses and ND filters, Worth 4-Dot test). The degree of suppression was found to correlate directly with the degree of amblyopia within our clinical sample, whereby stronger suppression was associated with a greater difference in interocular acuity and poorer stereoacuity. Suppression was not related to the type or angle of strabismus when this was present or the previous treatment history.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that suppression may have a primary role in the amblyopia syndrome and therefore have implications for the treatment of amblyopia.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors: Jingrong
authors: J
authors: Li
authors: Benjamin
authors: B
authors: Thompson
authors: Carly S Y
authors: CS
authors: Lam
authors: Daming
authors: D
authors: Deng
authors: Lily Y L
authors: LY
authors: Chan
authors: Goro
authors: G
authors: Maehara
authors: George C
authors: GC
authors: Woo
authors: Minbin
authors: M
authors: Yu
authors: Robert F
authors: RF
authors: Hess
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000550:Amblyopia / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015858:Anisometropia / Q000150:complications*; D002648:Child; D003867:Depth Perception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009039:Motion Perception; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D013285:Strabismus / Q000150:complications*; D014792:Visual Acuity; D014794:Visual Fields; D055815:Young Adult