An eye clinic in India found that amblyopia, or “lazy eye,” could be corrected in older children through videogames. At the 115th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology this week, Dr. Somen Ghosh will share his work from his study and its results. A preview: he says there that a third of the children were able to make significant vision gains.
The year-long study of 100 participants age 10 through 18 had good results — about 60 percent showed some vision improvement. This goes directly against the prevailing wisdom, which says that once children hit school age, amblyopia will be difficult or impossible to correct. One of the study’s four test groups played videogames for at least one hour a day using only the weaker eye. One participant, 16-year old Saurav Sen, was pleased with the results:
“Playing the shooting games while using just my weaker eye was hard at first, but after a few months I could win all game levels easily,” said Sen. “I’m very happy that I stuck with the program. My vision has improved a lot, so that I now have no trouble studying or taking exams. My tennis game also improved, and of course I’m now a pro PC gamer.”
Bitch, you ain’t no pro. But I’m glad about your eye.
