Amblyopia Therapy in Children Identified by Photoscreening

Purpose To determine the efficacy of amblyopia treatment in children identified through a community photoscreening program. Design Case series. Participants We included 125 children diagnosed with amblyopia after referral from a photoscreening program. Methods Retrospective chart review of 125 amblyopic children identified by photoscreening and treated in a single academic pediatric ophthalmology group practice. Treatment regimens included spectacles, patching, and/or atropine penalization. Successful treatment was defined as ≥3 Snellen line equivalent improvement in visual acuity and/or 20/30 visual acuity in the amblyopic eye in literate children. Successful treatment in initially preliterate children was defined as 20/30 or better visual acuity in the amblyopic eye. Main Outcome Measures Percentage of successfully treated amblyopic children. Results Of 901 children evaluated after being referred from photoscreening, 551 had amblyopiogenic risk factors without amblyopia, 185 were diagnosed with amblyopia, and 165 were false positives. Of 185 children with amblyopia, 125 met inclusion criteria for analysis and 78% (97 of 125) were successfully treated. Conclusions The success rate of amblyopia treatment in children identified through our photoscreening program is high. This study supports the role of photoscreening programs in the prevention of amblyopia-related vision loss. Such early screening may translate to true visual acuity improvement. Financial Disclosure(s) The authors have no proprietary or commercial interest in any of the materials discussed in this article.