Stripe therapy for amblyopia with a modified television game

A variation of "stripe therapy" for amblyopia was evaluated with the use of 50 amblyopic subjects. The stimulus consisted of a television game that had been modified to allow simultaneous display of the game and moving stripe patterns. Subjects used their amblyopic eye to play the game for 20 min/wk. Some of the subjects played the game with the super-imposed stripes, whereas a control group played the game without stripes. The exposure sessions continued for eight to 12 weeks, after which the subjects' visual acuities were measured for follow-up periods lasting up to a year. The visual acuities of many persons improved while they were playing the television game, but with wide variation in performance. During the six- to 12-month follow-up period, the visual acuities of patients decreased from the levels attained during the exposure period. There seemed to be no major difference between the results from persons exposed to stripes and those from the control group, either during the exposure sessions or during the follow-up period.