Amblyopia: could we do better?

BMJ 1995;310:1153-1154 (6 May)

Editorials

Amblyopia: could we do better?

Doctors need to pay as much attention to treatment and complianceas to detection

Amblyopia is a common cause of visual loss affecting between1 and 4% of the population.¹ In most cases it is unilateraland is associated with either misalignment of the eyes (strabismus)or a difference in refraction between the two eyes (anisometropia).Treatment, which is effective only in childhood, consists ofprescribing glasses when appropriate and occluding the goodeye to force the child to use the amblyopic eye. There is nodoubt that this treatment can be highly effective, and a recentprospective study reported cure--that is, visual acuity withinone line of that in the unaffected eye--in 89% of patients.²Despite this, amblyopia remains widely prevalent in adults.Why is this? How important a problem is it? And, what, if anything,needs to be done?

Most people with amblyopia are barely aware of their . . . [Full text of this article]

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