Assessment of the results of treatment of children with amblyopia associated with strabismus

Abstract

Treatment of amblyopia in children with strabismus is still a difficult problem, especially in cases of disruption of binocular vision. There are also classification differences, reflected in the proposals, coming from professors E.S. Avetisov (1968) and E.E. Somov (1997). The question is how to assess the severity of amblyopia and the result of its treatment. The first author has chosen as the primary measure visual acuity, the second – binocular function. This indicator is integral and really reflects the level of functional status of the organ of vision of any child. This is a really important point, because the essential symptom of strabismic and of other origin amblyopia is impairment, detected in binocular vision. In addition, we should keep in mind the fact, that the “maturation” of central visual acuity in children is gradual and closely related to their age. After we have examined 50 children systematically attending a specialized kindergarten, we found out, that according to the criteria of E.S. Avetisov their cure is 39.8%, and according to the criteria of E.E. Somov – 12,5%. In the first case, it is a significantly inflated figure due to children with really high visual acuity and lack of binocularity. But daily practice shows that the results of high visual acuity after pleoptic therapy, not supported by the re-establishment of binocular vision, are not durable and gradually, or sometimes rapidly decrease. The study also showed that the existing methods of orthoptic treatment are not effective enough and must be improved.