Last couple of years saw great advances and strides forward in the treatment approached of amblyopia. We can all agree, that it was high time that this field of therapeutics catches up both to the new technological advancements, as well as new engagement methods for improving compliance. Compliance is one of the key factors impacting the success of the therapy. Yet, we won’t be touching upon the technological part of the progress.
In today’s blog, we are not going into the details about what amblyopia is and how we treat it, because you are most likely very familiar with that already, are you not? If that is not the case, though, scroll down our blog section and find many interesting contributions on amblyopia itself, its treatment, and beyond. What we will briefly discuss today is new evidence that supports the notion that binocular treatment approaches might be just as important as conventional ones in amblyopia treatment.
Different parts of the brain are affected in amblyopia
It is generally accepted that amblyopia arises due to changes in the primary visual cortex and that decreased visual acuity as well as impaired binocular function have both got to do with the changes in this part of the brain. However, one of the latest studies shows that whilst visual acuity is indeed affected by the changes in the primary visual cortex, the impaired binocular function is not. It is proposed that changes in the deep brain structure – the thalamus – impact the binocular vision.
OK. But what is the clinical implication?
Long story short, these findings suggest that binocular vision training [link blog: Binocular vision training as an active treatment of lazy eye!] might be just as important as conventional therapy when it comes to amblyopia treatment. The former would address changes in the thalamus and the latter in the primary visual cortex, to improve binocular function and visual acuity, respectively.
