VR Gets FDA Approval to Help Children With Lazy Eye

The Food and Drug Administration approved a virtual reality-based treatment for children with the visual disorder amblyopia, or lazy eye, the company behind the therapy announced today. Patients watch modified TV shows or movies through a virtual reality headset to improve their vision. “We’re proud to be part of the FDA’s groundbreaking decision today, to approve a first-of-its-kind digital therapeutic that allows patients to watch their favorite TV shows and movies to improve their vision,” Scott Xiao, chief executive officer of Luminopia, the company that developed the tool, said in a statement. Around 3 percent of children have amblyopia, which develops when the brain and eyes stop communicating properly. The brain favors one eye, which leads to vision problems in the other eye. It’s the leading cause of vision problems in children. It’s usually treated by blocking the stronger eye with a patch or blurring drops, forcing the brain to rely on the weaker eye.

Luminopia’s approach uses TV and movies to develop the weaker eye and train the eyes to work together. Patients watch the show or movie through a headset that shows the images to each eye separately. The images shown to the stronger eye have a lower contrast, and the images are presented with overlays that force the brain to use both eyes to see them properly. An example of the video modifications used in the treatment. Image: Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Kids using the therapy and wearing glasses had more improvement in their vision than a similar group of kids who did not use the therapy and just wore corrective glasses full time during a clinical trial of the technology. After 12 weeks watching the shows one hour per day, six days per week, 62 percent of kids using the treatment had a strong improvement in their vision. Only around a third of the kids in the comparison group had similar improvements over the course of the 12 weeks.



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https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/368943