Technology

New High-Tech Glasses Will Help Kids Combat Lazy Eye

November 18, 2015 | Elizabeth Knowles

Electronic glasses have been proven as effective as eye patches for lazy eye in children.
Photo credit: American Academy of Ophthalmology

“Four-Eyes” just got cool!

Wearing an eye patch and dressing up as a pirate at Halloween might sound like fun, but for some children, wearing an eye patch is a daily ordeal.

Children who suffer from amblyopia have one eye that did not develop properly during early childhood. Also known as a lazy eye, this condition affects 2 – 3 percent of children. Typical treatments involve wearing an eye patch over the good eye or using medicated drops to force the child to use the lazy eye in order to strengthen it. Children have to begin treatment before the age of eight, while their eyes and brain are still developing. If left untreated, the weaker eye can start to wander and the brain may come to ignore its signal completely, resulting in a complete loss of vision in that eye.

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It isn’t hard to imagine how much resistance children put up to these treatments. Nobody likes putting drops in their eyes, and the frustratingly unclear sight can make them feel like they are being punished for their medical condition. Kids aren’t concerned with the long-term consequences. They just want to see now.

New programmable electronic glasses made specifically to treat amblyopia were presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology this past weekend. They function much like an eye patch — by turning one of the lenses opaque — but could be a much better solution for children.

Since the device can be programmed, the opacity can be turned on and off. For example, a child might be allowed to use both eyes for 30 seconds before switching back to just the lazy eye. This technology could decrease the anxiety and discomfort normally associated with a patch or drops. They can also be fitted with a child’s vision prescription.

These new digital Amblyz occlusion glasses have been approved as a medical device by the FDA and are available in the United States for about $450. A small study was run by the Glick Eye Institute at Indiana University on 33 children where half of the participants wore an eye patch for two hours a day, and the other half wore the glasses for four hours a day with the lens switching from clear to opaque every 30 seconds. After three months, both groups showed equal improvement in their lazy eye.

Dr. Daniel Neely, a pediatric ophthalmology professor at Indiana University who led the study, said, "When you talk to adults who underwent childhood treatment for amblyopia, they will tell you that wearing a patch was the worst thing ever.” While children may not call these new glasses “the best thing ever,” but they are certainly an improvement over traditional methods.

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