Abstract
Purpose :
Despite the lack of sufficient positive and negative evidence, information exists regarding the effectiveness of ocular exercises to treat presbyopia. We performed a prospective interventional clinical study to assess the effect multidirectionally.
Methods :
Twenty-three healthy subjects aged 40 to 59 years (mean, 48 ± 5.0 standard deviation) completed three visits every 2 months and performed eye exercises during which they viewed near (30 to 40 cm) and far (>5 meters) points alternately 20 times 4 times daily between the second and third visits. The outcome measures included five grades (0-4) of overall satisfaction regarding near vision, the Near Activity Visual Questionnaire (NAVQ), near point under binocular viewing (NP), near functional visual acuity (FVA), objective accommodative response of right eyes under 30 cm binocular viewing measured using an open-field autorefractor (AR), pupil size of the right eyes (PS), and amount of convergence (CA) under accommodative stimulation of 3 diopters measured using the TriIRIS C9000 (Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., Hamamatsu, Japan). The data were analyzed using Dunnett’s test to compare the first and third visits to the second visit. The data from participants with improvement in the overall satisfaction score (positive group [PG]) and others (negative group [NG]) were compared using the t-test.
Results :
The overall satisfaction score was significantly (P=0.017) better after 2 months of exercise (before, 2.74±0.81; after, 2.39±0.72). No improvement was seen in the NAVQ score (P=0.44), NP (P=0.77), near FVA (P=0.78), or AR (P=0.12). The PS became significantly (P=0.04) smaller (before, 4.03±0.84 mm; after, 3.75±0.98 mm) and the CA significantly (P=0.03) larger (before, 0.71 ± 0.25 mm; after, 0.98 ± 0.46 mm). Eight (34.8%) of 23 participants had an improved overall satisfaction score. Comparison of the PG and NG showed that changes in the PS and CA did not differ between the two (P=0.50 and P=0.94, respectively), although the PG subjects were significantly (P=0.04) older than the NG subjects (PG, 51.4±5.4 years; NG, 47.0±4.1 years).
Conclusions :
Although the exercises improved miosis and convergence accompanying near vision, the near vision did not improve functionally. However, some participants had improved overall satisfaction with the near vision and they were significantly older than others. The reason should be studied further.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.