Jaimie Etkin: The Devil Wore Manolos
Patch Might Not Be Best Treatment for Lazy Eye
Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals: Big Kids, Research Reveals: Tweens, Health
The patch may be a thing of the past when it comes to treating lazy eyes. Credit: Corbis
But there may be help: A new study shows acupuncture may be more effective than the patch.
Lazy eye afflicts up to five percent of people, and as many of 50 percent of those cases are caused by a difference in the nearsightedness or farsightedness between the two eyes, according to a report in the Archives of Ophthalmology.
Younger kids can be treated with the right glasses or contact lenses, but for kids between ages of 7 and 12, that only works in about 30 percent of cases. The rest need to wear a patch, which brings the improvement rate up to about 66 percent, the report says.
The trouble with that is, by the time they're in elementary school, kids may not want to turn up to class looking as though their first words might be "Ahoy, matey!" Many kids end up taking the patch off, and those who don't "may experience emotional problems," the report says.
Researchers in China set out to find an alternative. They ran a trial with 88 children and gave 43 of them five acupuncture treatments a week. The remaining 45 children wore an eye patch for two hours a day. All the children wore corrective lenses and were told to do a minimum of one hour a day of near-vision activities for their lazy eye, things such as reading or typing, the report says.
After 15 weeks of treatment, the kids whose eyes were patched had visual acuity improvements of 1.8 lines on an eye chart, and those who had acupuncture could see 2.3 lines better, according to the report. Of those who were patched, 66.7 had improvements of two lines or more, compared with 75.6 percent of the kids who had acupuncture, the report continues.
Perhaps the biggest contrast came in the percentage of children for whom the problem was considered resolved: 16.7 percent of the kids who were patched, as opposed to 41.5 percent of those who had acupuncture, the report shows.
The study doesn't mean, though, that kids can abandon their patches in favor of tiny needles. While the treatment looks "promising," the authors note that their follow-up period was relatively short and that there are different styles of acupuncture.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 2)
12-14-2010 @ 8:20PM
Bonnie said...I had surgery for lazy eye when I was in my late 30's. Best thing I ever had done! It was getting worse the older I got and I was so self conscious..I hated having my picture taken. It also affects your depth perception. It was surgery on the muscles in my eyes..
Reply
12-14-2010 @ 8:33PM
Chellie said...I had the surgery done when I was 44 and made all the difference in the world to me. Mine got worse as I got older also, but after they were straightened, I became self-confident. I was no longer afraid of looking people in the eye fearing they would think I was looking beside or behind them. I am so happy I finally had it done.
12-14-2010 @ 9:19PM
Bee said...I see you had this done late in life...
I want to know who did it and since I read the woman below you [chellie] who had it done at age 44 if I still have a chance... I am 47
I would be interested in consulting the right person....
thank You... B
12-15-2010 @ 12:30AM
Jackie Butler said...With all due respect; my youngest son inherited his Father's " lazy eye " and the eye doctor said that the simple exercise of the child taking a pencil, holding it at arms' length and staring at it as it was brought close to the forehead, then pulled away again, repeat about 5 times and do a few times per day, would actually exercise the muscles in the eye(s) which may be " pointing " in different directions-also when the child seems to be looking in different directions-a gentle ( key word is gentle, not insulting ) reminder would be to say " focus " and the eye will go back into focus-it's almost as though a lazy eye is a physical stutter of the eye and best not to be drawn to so much attention ( or shame ) that the child feels like freak. Just please try it. In a calm setting. For a few months and perhaps it will work for your child as well. God Bless.
12-15-2010 @ 3:26AM
Crimsonrayne said...Interesting that no one has mentioned the Botox injection...My son had a lazy eye. His doctor gave him an injection in to the eye muscle, (which paralyzed it.) Over time the Botox wears off and the eye muscles adjust properly...we had 2 reasons to use this route. 1) NO SURGERY!!! 2) The process can be repeated if it doesn't completely work the first time. I was over the moon that my child would not have to go through surgery, with all the risks involved. The procedure worked after only one try. He is 13 now, and still no sign of that drift :) I would ask your Doctor about it, you have nothing to lose by inquiring.
12-14-2010 @ 8:32PM
P. Crooks said...Can anyone offer a suggestion for a 1 yr. old with "lazy eye" who has learned to pull the adhesive patch off as quickly as we put it on?
Reply
12-14-2010 @ 8:45PM
Donna said...Get the surgery done to correct it. My son and grandson had it and it corrected immediately.
12-14-2010 @ 8:55PM
natalie said...Ask your ophthalmologist about using Atropine 1%. It is used daily in the better seeing eye. It works by blurring the vision in the good eye to make the weaker eye stronger. There are some drawbacks; the eye is constantly dilated and the drops tend to not work as well if the vision is extremely different between each other. If not, a lot of positive reinforcement, playing pirate ( you patch also) and trying to distract the child while patching sometimes helps. Good luck.
12-14-2010 @ 10:30PM
Guido said...There are amazing new protocols to use for the lazy eye syndrome,
Showing and reading Pirate books with pictures is one means to use and there are a myriad of other approaches. The Lazy eye runs in my family among other thing, but handcuffs seem to work best with young children in our family. "Just Joking." Actually Surgery at any age is the most effective means fore my mother and her 9 brothers and sisters, even at ages 50+.
12-14-2010 @ 10:42PM
lalasaso said...I know it sounds crazy but here are two things you can try. (both recommended to me during optometry school and work!) 1. try putting the patch on when your child is asleep, this may still not work until the vision is improved some though. 2. buy a pair of swim floaties and place them at your child's elbows so they can't bend their arms to get to the patch. Of course at first they will not be fond of this, but it may be a better choice for you at this time, it is at least worth a try before switching to Atropine. I know it seems like a struggle right now, but if you stick with it you will be so happy that you did. You are the only one who can help your child's vision improve. When it gets tough just remember that the outcome is far better than the small struggle you are going through right now. I'm sure your eye doctor has instructed you that surgery may be necessary down the line, but it is important to get the best vision possible before surgery in many cases. Keep your head up! You may just be at the beginning of a long road, but by getting your child an eye exam and really committing to the treatment you have shown that you are an amazing parent! Good Luck!
12-14-2010 @ 11:03PM
Michaeljm said...see my comments. Michaeljm
12-15-2010 @ 12:42AM
Dr. Bradford Murray said...I AM A VISION THERAPIST. I WORK WITH LAZY AND OTHER VISION PROBLEMS EVERYDAY. THERE ARE OTHER ALTERNATIVES BUT YOUR CHILD NEEDS TO BE SEEN BY A DEVELOPMENTAL OPTOMETRIST. IF YOU LIVE IN CALIFORNIA DR. BRADFORD MURRAY IS THE BEST! 408-445-2020
12-14-2010 @ 9:20PM
John S said...I have that problem, but at my age there is no hope. I have to have a note from an eye Dr to get a driver's license.
Reply
12-14-2010 @ 9:47PM
Martin Ward said...My daughter (at age 6) had a lazy eye when she got tired. The dr. put a prism lense in a pair of glasses and within a year or so the lazy eye was gone. The dr. said it had to be done before 9 or 10 yrs. of age to be successful. It has never bothered her again (now 27yrs.).
Reply
12-14-2010 @ 9:52PM
Toni said...I was diagnosed with a 'lazy eye' when I was ten days old. My Mom said she saw something wrong with my left eye at that time. By the time I was four, my left eye was down, all the way to the left and the lid was half closed. We were a navy family so the Navy doctors contacted an eye specialist in Philadelphia and he operated on my eye. He raised the lid (somewhat), moved the eyeball to the center (horizontally), but did not raise the eye. So if was still off vertically. They tried glasses, a patch -- nothing worked. I grew up with many nasty headaches. Couldn't go to the movies without getting a headache. Finally when I was almost twenty-seven, I was referred to an upper cervical chiropractor. After hearing my history they told me that the doctor who delivered me in 1939, took ahold of my head as I was being born, and twisted it to free my shoulders. Ten days later my left eye was showing signs of a pinched nerve. The doctors then did not recognize that. These chiropractors saw exactly what happened. They took xrays of my neck, evaluated them and gave me an adjustment. They told me to expect reactions and reactions I got. They also said I'd feel worse before I felt better. And they said, 'NO PAIN KILLERS!" I toughed it out. Everything I had ever injured on my body flaired up on me and in time corrected itself. Within eight months the headaches were gone -- permanently. Other aches and pains disappeared too. As for the eye, I got a lot of activity in it but if you have a deviating eye and it's not corrected by the time a child is eight or nine years old, then the brain will suppress the signal to that eye and when that happens, it's permanent. The vision in it is 20/200. But that adjustment corrected everything else. I still go to an upper cervical chiropractor to maintain my adjustment. I haven't had one single headache since 1967.
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12-14-2010 @ 10:55PM
CeeJay said...I wore the patch along with my 3 year old. As he grew to accept wearing it, we moved on to drawing cartoon characters on the patch. I traced them from his coloring books. Note - if you do this, use crayon and not kiddy markers. The markers run when the child sweats!
I was diagnosed at 6 and he at 3. I found out I should have taken him to an ophamalogist instead of asking his pediatrician if he showed any signs of amblyopia. He is now 23 and we both have about 70% correction and do great with glasses. I, indeed, have one eye near and one far sighted. Son is purely far-sighted.
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12-15-2010 @ 2:21PM
michaeljm said...The concept that acupuncture can help resolve "lazy eye", a neurological problem, is completely nonsensical. Amblyopia, the correct term for reduced vision, is chiefly caused by either an eye turn, or a large difference in focus level of 2 eyes. It was demonstrated many years ago that if visual stimuli in infants are blocked to 1 or both eyes, a permanent vision loss may result. In humans, if the better eye is patched sufficiently at a young age, the visual pathways have a chance to develop in the "lazy" eye. In 31 years of examining eyes, I have seen many people with various degrees of reduced vision due to amblyopia. The fortunate ones who had received careful occlusion therapy at a very young age often had good vision in both eyes. An alternate therapy may be to fit the young child with a contact lens on the better eye for several hours per day. This may eliminate the problem of non cooperation with patching. Eye alignment surgery, when needed, at a young age may help prevent amblyopia, but the child should be monitored carefully as well. For further valid information, contact the Southern California College of Optometry; scco.edu. O.D. in CA.
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12-14-2010 @ 11:07PM
gman said...Useless study---sample size too small, "treatments not well supervised, and followup way too short.
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12-14-2010 @ 11:23PM
Ted Hil said...Is this treatment covered by medicare?
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12-15-2010 @ 12:46AM
Dr. Bradford Murray said...I work for a Developmental Optometrist named Dr. Bradford Murray in San Jose, California. He is the best and he accepts many insurance coverages but he also gives a senior discount! Call 408-445-2020