Abstract:Background and Objective: Occlusion therapy is usually used to control amblyopia, which is the most frequent kind of visual impairment in children. But how long of a patching session is best done every day is still up for discussion. In children with unilateral amblyopia, the purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of two patching regimens: one that was applied part-time (4 hours/day) and another that was applied full-time (8 hours/day).
Material and Methods: This randomized clinical trial included 60 children aged 3 to 8 years diagnosed with unilateral amblyopia resulting from strabismus, anisometropia, or a combination of both. This research was performed at the Department of Paediatrics, Madha Medical College and Hospital, located on Kundrathur Main Road, Kovur, Thandalam, Tamil Nadu, India, from April 2019 to March 2020. Participants were randomly allocated to two groups: Group A received part-time patching (4 hours per day), while Group B received full-time patching (8 hours per day). All subjects were provided with suitable refractive correction before patching. Visual acuity was evaluated at baseline, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks with age-appropriate logMAR charts. Adherence and unfavorable effects were also seen.
Results: There was no statistically significant difference between Group A and Group B at 12 weeks in terms of mean improvement in visual acuity in the amblyopic eye, with 0.24±0.08 logMAR in Group A and 0.27±0.10 logMAR in Group B, respectively (p = 0.18). Both treatments demonstrated a notable enhancement compared to the initial state (p<0.001). The full-time group's compliance rate was 72%, whereas the part-time group's rate was 90%. Neither group reported any major adverse events.
Conclusion: Children suffering from unilateral amblyopia showed significant improvements in visual acuity when treated with either a part-time or full-time patching regimen. For the majority of patients, though, part-time patching may be the best first-line option because of the high degree of compliance and the similarity of the visual outcomes.
