TREATMENT FOR ADULTS WITH LAZY EYE
by Adrienne Brown
IN CANADA, MOST OF THE TWO TO THREE PER CENT OF THE POPULATION WHO SUFFERS FROM SOME
DEGREE OF AMBLYOPIA – COMMONLY KNOWN AS LAZY EYE – ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE THEIR
SYMPTOMS IDENTIFIED IN CHILDHOOD, WHEN THE CONDITION IS EASILY TREATED.
In fact, until now, it was believed that
amblyopia, a condition where the eye
does not see clearly even when vision
is compensated with lenses, could only
be treated in young children, whose
brains are still developing and therefore
quite responsive, and that no treatment
or correction was available for adults.
However, new research by Dr. Ben
Thompson, a vision scientist at the
University of Waterloo, suggests that
adults with amblyopia may be able to
improve their sight with low voltage
electric currents. In a proof-of-concept
series of experiments, Thompson and
his colleagues applied transcranial
direct current stimulation (tDCS) to
the surface of patients’ heads for
twenty minutes.
“The positive results tell us that
even with a short application, there
was improvement,” says Thompson.
It suggests that the adult brain can
adapt, after all.
with the transmission of information
in the brain. “We have to change the
way the brain is interpreting
information.”
A release from the University of
Waterloo states that untreated amblyopia can increase a patient’s lifetime
risk for legal blindness by 50 per cent.
Thompson and his colleagues at the
University of Waterloo have been
working with Sun Yat-sen University
in China and collaborators from McGill
University, University of Auckland
Next, Thompson and his colleagues
will move their research to a clinical
situation and start testing with eye
charts, for example. In their preliminary studies, after one week, patients
had returned to baseline. So now
Thompson and his team want to look
at repeated exposure to see if patients
can maintain the change they saw
immediately.
“I’m optimistic,” says Thompson, “this
could be used to augment other types
of intervention.”
“WE HAVE TO CHANGE THE WAY THE BRAIN
IS INTERPRETING INFORMATION.”
and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Thompson, whose research is
concerned with human visual cortex
development and plasticity, has recently
been focusing on amblyopia and identifying treatments for adults.
From a practical perspective, amblyopia can restrict people from certain
professions, such as with the military
or in emergency services. Similarly, if
adults with amblyopia suffer any other
type of visual impairment to their
“good” eyes, they then face more serious
vision problems with no strong eye
at all.
“The brain is receiving mismatched
images,” says Thompson. The issue
is not with the eye itself, he says, but
“It’s an issue we need to address and
research in this area is building
momentum,” says Thompson.
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Thompson says his research could
open up a new area of treatment that
optometrists could possibly use in
their offices.
“The previous view was that it could
not be treated,” he says, so no attempts
were even made. “What we are showing
here, and in other facilities around the
world, is that adults can even recover
stereoscopic vision, but we need to
identify the right interventions for
them versus children,” whose brains
can much more easily adapt to
treatments.
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