The Impact of Occlusion Therapy on Amblyopia Success Outcomes

The recommended amount of occlusion therapy and amblyopia treatment success rates remains controversial. This study explores rates of occlusion therapy success and attempts to address limitations of previous literature.

A retrospective chart review was performed on patients with occlusion therapy outcomes from 2012 to 2019. Equal visual acuity (VA) or stable VA for three consecutive clinical visits, despite reported good compliance defined outcome VA.

Results showed 90.3% of subjects obtained outcome distance VA of 0.3logMAR, 76% ≥0.3logMAR, 35% ≥0.2logMAR, and 6% ≥0.1logMAR in the amblyopic eye following treatment. Sixty-nine percent of the study population obtained equal vision following occlusion therapy. Only initial VA (amblyopic eye) and initial interocular visual optotype difference at distance predicted post-treatment success.

These results support the conclusion that occlusion therapy, both PTO and FTO, can be effective in treating amblyopia when good compliance is maintained based on parental reports of compliance. Additionally, as VA gain was higher than in previous literature, it is important to continue treatment until VA is equal or three consecutive cycles of stable VA are obtained to ensure maximum VA improvement.