EFFECTS OF PROLONGED MONOCULAR OCCLUSION ON CONVERGENCE AND BINOCULAR SENSORY INTEGRATION IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS WITH AMBLYOPIA
Keywords:
Amblyopia, occlusion therapy, patching, convergence, binocular vision, pediatric patientsAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of prolonged monocular occlusion on convergence and binocular sensory integration in pediatric patients with amblyopia
METHODS: This prospective quasi-experimental study was conducted at Shalimar Institute of Health Sciences, Lahore over a six-month period. A total of 56 children aged 5–18 years with unilateral amblyopia were included through non-probability consecutive sampling. Eligible participants had been undergoing patching therapy for at least 4 hours daily for a minimum of 6 weeks. Patients with other ocular pathology, prior vision therapy, neurological or developmental visual disorders, ocular surgery, or poor compliance were excluded. Best-corrected visual acuity and near point of convergence were assessed before and after treatment.
RESULTS: After therapy, both monocular and binocular outcomes improved significantly. Best-corrected visual acuity improved from 0.65 to 0.48, and near point of convergence improved from 8.32 cm to 7.06 cm, both with p<0.001. Improvement in visual acuity was greatest in the short-duration group, followed by the moderate-duration and long-duration groups.
CONCLUSION: Prolonged monocular occlusion was associated with significant improvement in both visual acuity and convergence in pediatric amblyopia. These findings suggest that patching therapy may support not only recovery of monocular vision but also better binocular coordination and functional near vision. Earlier intervention appeared to produce better outcomes, reinforcing the importance of timely diagnosis and treatment in children during the sensitive period of visual development
