Abstract
Purpose :
It is well known that vision in adult amblyopes is difficult to improve and, plenty of evidence supports the idea that a critical period for plasticity in visual system has passed in adults. However, recent studies have shown that vision improvement in human subjects who experienced dark exposure (DE). In this report we focus on the vision restoration in adult amplyopes after dark exposure and vision training.
Methods :
Fifty seven adult patients with 110 amblyopic eyes were recruited. Inclusion criteria: best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) is lower than 20/20 (logMAR 0.0) and no organic disorders were identified. Macular development is normal. Visually evoked potential and electroretinography were normal. Subjects stayed in the dark room for 10 days. After DE, all patients performed visual training for 2 weeks. BCVA was examined at the end of the training and at their latest visits.
Results :
Among the 57 adult patients (mean age: 25.4 year old, range: 18-38 years old) with 110 amblyopic eyes, the mean of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in 65 eyes of 34 patients reached normal level after DE, improved from 0.30 logMAR before DE to 0.00 logMAR after DE & visual training. The difference was significant (P=0.00). However, there were 2 amblyopic eyes had less than 1 line improvement. All other subjects had 2 to 5 line Improvement. Long term follow-up of 19 patients who were reached after 6 -12 monthes showed that the restored vision sustained. No vision loss was observed in any patients.
Conclusions :
Visual plasticity in adult amblyopes was revealed after DE although vision restoration with DE and vision trainning is not equally effective in all subjects. DE is an useful approach for vision rehabilitation and research in amblyopia.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.