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Eye patching as a treatment for amblyopia in children aged 10–16 years

  • Clinical Investigation
  • Published:
Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the effects of full-time patching regimen on the treatment of amblyopia in children aged 10–16 years.

Methods

Forty-seven patients with a mean age of 12.09 ± 1.65 years were included in this study. All of the patients received eye patching for the entire day, 6 days a week, during the first 3 months. The patients who achieved visual acuity of 0.00 logMAR at the third month were provided with additional patching treatment (4–6 h/day). On the other hand, the patients who showed no change in their visual acuity or an increase of less than 0.00 logMAR at the third month had 3 more months of eye patching for the entire day, 6 days a week.

Results

Prior to treatment, the best mean visual acuity of the amblyopic eyes was 0.48 ± 0.25 (range 1.00–0.15) logMAR. After follow-up, the visual acuity of the amblyopic eyes was 0.20 ± 0.22 (range 1.00–0.00) logMAR. Thus, visual acuity in the amblyopic eyes improved by 0.2 log unit or more in 38 of 47 patients (81%).

Conclusions

The present results show that patching in older children with amblyopia improves visual acuity with no serious complications. The use of patching in children to improve amblyopia seems promising.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ophthalmology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cukurova University, Seyhan Park Evleri, M blok, 2/3 Yuregir, 01370, Adana, Turkey

    Elif Erdem

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, Ankara Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey

    Gül Yılmaz Çınar, Deniz Somer, Necati Demir, Ayse Burcu & Firdevs Örnek

Authors
  1. Elif Erdem
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  2. Gül Yılmaz Çınar
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  3. Deniz Somer
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  4. Necati Demir
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  5. Ayse Burcu
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  6. Firdevs Örnek
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elif Erdem.

Additional information

This study was conducted at the Ankara Training and Research Hospital Department of Ophthalmology.

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Erdem, E., Çınar, G.Y., Somer, D. et al. Eye patching as a treatment for amblyopia in children aged 10–16 years. Jpn J Ophthalmol 55, 389–395 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10384-011-0029-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10384-011-0029-z

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