No Age Limitations In Treatment OF Anisometropic Amblyopia

Souhad Lawand

Purpose: to prove the efficiency of anisometropic amblyopia treatment in patients older than 18 years old.

Setting: Ophthalmology department, Zulekha Hospital, Sharjah - UAE.

Materials and methods: the study involved 50 patients of different ages (20-38 years) treated for monocular anisometropic amblyopia using the standard dominant eye patching method. Duration of the treatment was 2 hours daily for a period of 14 days per month. They were then evaluated at 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th weeks and then at 6 months.

Results: Almost all the treated patients achieved a 2 to 3 lines increase in uncorrected visual acuity that remained to be stable during the follow up period.

Discussion
Eye care professionals often thought that treating amblyopia in older children would be of little benefit and restricted their researches on the effectiveness of treatment in children younger than 7 years. However, results from several researches showed that many children above that age suffering from amblyopia also benefit from the same treatment used on younger children. The interest in treating adults with amblyopia has been increasing lately but has not been restricted to a specific age category of patients yet. This study differs from others by addressing the effectiveness of amblyopia treatment in adults >18 years old and monitoring the stability of the achieved success in uncorrected visual acuity.

Conclusion: This study reveals that treatment of amblyopia can be conducted at any age and might be more effective in adults due to their liability in conducting the prescribed treatment. Simple patching of the better eye for 2 hours daily can increase the visual acuity of the amblyopic eye by 2 to 3 lines in adults and could remain stable, if the prescribed treatment is conducted on a monthly basis.