patch therapy in adults with ametropic amblyopia

purpose: to evaluate the effect of  patch therapy on visual acuity in adults with ametropic amblyopia. methods: this randomized clinical trial was performed on 66 patients with unilateral ametropic amblyopia aged 9 to 35 years reffered to a clinic in shahroud. the patients were randomly assigned to two groups. in the treatment group, based on the visual acuity of the amblyopic eye, 3-6 hours daily patching of the sound eye with an eye pad was prescribed; no patching was performed in the control group. visual acuities of both eyes were compared between the two groups before and 3 and 6 months after patch therapy. results: mean age of patients was 16±4.6 years in the treatment group and 17.2±7.1 years in the control group (p=0.42). mean visual acuity was 0.39±0.17 logmar before patch therapy which increased to 0.19±0.09 logmar after 3 months and 0.07±0.03 logmar after 6 months in the treatment group (p<0.001). there was no significant change in mean visual acuity of the control group during the same period. there was no significant difference between mean visual acuity of the treatment group based on duration of daily patching. conclusion: this study revealed that patch therapy on the sound eye can improve visual acuity in amblyopic eye in adults and that age is not an obstacle for this promotion. therefore, use of patch therapy is recommended for rehabilitation of adults with ametropic amblyopia.