Outcome of Occlusion and Supplemental Role of Mobile Games in the Treatment of Adult Amblyopia

Purpose: To investigate the supplemental role of dichoptic mobile video games in the treatment of adults with amblyopia. Methods: Patients aged 18 to 40 years with unilateral mild to moderate amblyopia and no prior history of amblyopia treatment were recruited after 6 weeks of optimal refractive correction. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups, each comprising 15 participants. The control group was prescribed 6 hours of daily patching. The study group played dichoptic mobile video games (stereoblocks) in addition to patching. They attended 2-hour sessions weekly for 12 weeks. Follow-up assessments included best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) for distance and near, as well as stereoacuity measurements at baseline and 1, 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Results: The median age of patients was 21.5 years (range: 19.5 to 26.5 years). The distance and near BCVA in the amblyopic eye showed an improvement at the final follow-up visit (12 weeks) in both groups. There was a statistically significant difference in improvement between the two groups at the final follow-up visit, with the study group performing better ( P = .04). There was no significant improvement in either of the groups in terms of stereoacuity ( P = .29). In intergroup and subgroup analysis, patients with anisometropia showed a significantly better improvement compared to strabismic and mixed amblyopia. Conclusions: Video games as a supplement to patching have additional benefits to patching in terms of BCVA in adults with amblyopia. Patients with anisometropic amblyopia appear to benefit more from this combined approach compared to those with strabismic or mixed amblyopia.