The AmblyoPlay team is aware of the fact that it’s hard to make a purchase decision, especially when it comes to a product related to health. Although you can already watch or read a lot of reviews on our website, we decided to introduce a new category on our blog. We are going to carry out interviews with our patients to get even more detailed feedback and information about our product. For our first interview, we asked our elderly user, Dan, if he would be interested in participating. He kindly accepted our interview proposal, for which we would like to thank him again!
How did you come across AmblyoPlay vision therapy?
An error by a surgeon during cataract surgery caused me to be afflicted with double vision. As time went by, the double vision got worse and I decided to create an attempt at a visual exercise application, since I am a software engineer. When I told my son Erik what I was thinking of doing, he began researching existing visual therapy applications, and found online references to AmblyoPlay.
Did you get enough information prior to buying it in a way that you knew what to expect?
Yes, including the fact that the older one is, the slower the recovery process will be, because of the reduction in brain plasticity that takes place as one ages. This information was very relevant to me at age 80 and helped me set realistic expectations.
Have you taken any previous approaches for curing your double vision?
Initially, I tried sitting on my back porch, without any visual correction, attempting to converge on the window frames of neighboring houses. I spent hours doing this and did make small gains in reducing the severity of the double vision. This effort led me to believe that proper visual exercises could reduce or eliminate my double vision. The optometrist I was seeing at the time told me there were no such visual exercises.
I changed optometrists and found a very competent and caring doctor that fitted me with a prism lens for my left eye and obtained a visual exercise that made use of beads on a small rope that one stretched from the wall to one’s nose. The object was to converge on each bead, from the farthest to the nearest, but I could not converge on any of them.
How did the progress with AmblyoPlay go? Were your expectations met? Did you expect worse, same, or better results? For how long have you been using our software?
I have been using your software for 3 months now. My primary objective for trying AmblyoPlay was to stop continual worsening of my double vision. My use of AmblyoPlay has slowed and perhaps stopped the worsening of my double vision, so my first objective has been achieved. Also, I have noted that while participating in the eye muscle training and strengthening exercise, my ability to converge is improving. I am improving slowly and marginally (but at 80 years of age, everything I do is done slowly and marginally).
What is your overall experience with AmblyoPlay vision therapy from the patient’s perspective? Is the process of starting vision therapy straightforward, with sufficient instructions?
The acquisition, installation and startup of the AmblyoPlay application went very smoothly. The navigation within the application is intuitive and simple. I am impressed with the quality of the work done in creating and testing AmblyoPlay.
Can you highlight some of the most important advantages you find out during vision therapy?
As mentioned above, the halting of the progressive worsening of my double vision over the past 3 years is a very promising sign. I hope that in the near future AmblyoPlay can help me reverse some of the damage that was done by the surgery and initial marginal optometry care.
Would you, as a representative of an older group of patients suggest that adults give vision therapy a try?
I do definitely recommend the use of AmblyoPlay for patients that have suffered eye muscle damage from cataract surgery. Because of my very limited medical knowledge of the complex interactions between the eyes and the brain to achieve convergence, I am not qualified to make a firm recommendation for other visual impairments.
On the other hand, improving the diminished quality of life that accompanies compromised visual convergence, is worth the effort and expense of finding a solution. On that basis I would recommend trying AmblyoPlay.
Do you have anything to add? Any suggestions or comments are welcome.
Older patients should know that because children can potentially benefit most from AmblyoPlay, the games are designed to engage children. It is very helpful to get in a relaxed state of mind that is OK with the simplistic format of the games. The background music is also lighthearted and suited for children, but is very well done and very suited to the task of keeping the participant in a good frame of mind.
Patients who are currently wearing glasses, should check to see if the AmblyoPlay game glasses (that have one red and one blue lens) are currently provided with a clip-on option to be supported by the frame of existing patient glasses. The set of glasses I received had an elastic band, which might work with existing glasses with a flat lens, but the curved lens on my glasses caused the high fastening point of the elastic band to tilt the bottom of the AmblyoPlay glasses outward.
I fixed the problem by removing the band and fastening two clip structures from a paper clip. I fixed the clips to the glasses frame using strong industrial tape. The solution was far from elegant but it was effective.
To conclude, we would kindly invite you, our community, to share your experience with AmblyoPlay. If you are interested, send an email to [email protected]. We are also available at this address for any questions related to this topic.