Lazy eye, or ambylopia, is the leading cause of vision loss in childhood, but it can be difficult to detect in small children who are unable to reliably use eye charts. A new handheld scanning device identifies this ocular anomaly at the early stages, when it can be treated most effectively.
The test, which incorporates a low-power laser and takes only 2.5 seconds, scans the child’s eyes to measure their alignment.
“The eyes of a child with amblyopia can look perfectly fine, even while one eye is slowly losing vision,” says senior author David Hunter, MD, chief of ophthalmology at Children’s Hospital Boston. “Once a child reaches school age, treatment is less likely to restore useful vision. We’d really like to begin treating them when they’re three years old – or younger.”
The device boasts an impressive 96% sensitivity and specificity for detecting amblyopia or strabismus compared to gold standard ophthalmologic tests.
Press release: Detecting “lazy eye” earlier