Bright lights on the outside can help treat lazy eyes in children

The maturation of visual acuity in both amblyopia and myopia can be closely badociated with the development of light signaling pathways in the brain, according to research published in the Journal of Neuroscience by SUNY College of Optometry doctoral candidate Carmen Pons Torres and colleagues from the laboratory of distinguished professor Jose-Manuel Alonso.

Although previous research has shown that amblyopia, also known as lazy eye, also affects the brain's pathways signaling light and dark features of an image, Pons Torres found that amblyopia has a greater impact on the perception of light features. only dark features. His research also shows that when amblyopia becomes more serious and the images projected in the eye lose detail, the light targets become more and more difficult to discern. This recent work opens the possibility of treating amblyopia by strengthening weakened brain pathways that signal light stimuli.

Amblyopia is a brain development problem that compromises the visual acuity of two to five percent of children worldwide. Children usually develop an amblyopia of one eye and the current treatment involves applying a patch to the healthy eye to force it to work harder.

Although they have been used for centuries, these patch treatments are problematic. Amblyopia may not be diagnosed for years and correction is less effective in mature brains, there is a high risk of recurrence of amblyopia after discontinuation of the patch, and low compliance remains important as children are not They often do not like to wear the patch and tend to withdraw treatment. unattended.

Previous works of the Alonso laboratory published in Vision Journal by Pons et al. showed that faint light and optical blur (for example, reading indoors in low light) affect the perception of light targets more than dark targets. Low light and optical blur are risk factors badociated with myopia or nearsightedness, another developmental problem affecting visual acuity. Another recent Alonso team study published in Cell Reports by Dr. Reece Mazade, a postdoctoral researcher in optometry, found the following results: found that these pathways are best stimulated by large, long-lasting, bright targets, particularly of sky, which are bright, wide and slow moving.

These two new discoveries pave the way for new research into new treatments that make more effective use of natural visual stimuli to promote healthier visual behaviors, including portable devices that monitor outdoor vision.

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