Findings from the first U.S. trial of the electronic glasses used for treating amblyopia in children, sold under the brand name Amblyz™, were presented at AAO 2015 in November.

Amblyz, manufactured by XPAND 3D, are battery-powered electronic glasses with a liquid crystal shutter that functions as a digital patch, occluding vision in each eye for a set length of time each day.

The Glick Eye Institute at Indiana University study involved 33 subjects with lazy eye between the ages of 3 and 8. One group received treatment with an adhesive patch while the other group wore digital occlusion glasses for 4 hours a day. Both groups showed similar levels of improvement on a reading chart, a gain of two lines.

The electronic glasses were designed to improve on the level of compliance as compared with medicated eyedrops, which 13% of children refuse, and patching.

Amblyz glasses were made available in Canada in 2012, and were approved for sale in the United States in 2014.

Further information: http://www.aao.org/newsroom/news-releases/detail/programmable-electronic-glasses-provide-children-e

Research from the University of Waterloo offers surprising findings from vision tests performed on children who were exposed to recreational drugs while in the womb.

The research, published on November 19 in the journal Scientific Reports, tested higher-level visual processing, which occurs in the brain’s dorsal area and is very vulnerable to risk factors in early development, in four-year-olds who were exposed prenatally to different recreational drugs. The results showed that marijuana exposure improved global motion perception, while alcohol had a negative effect. Methamphetamine and nicotine exposure had no effect as compared with the control group.

“We were surprised with this initial finding,” said Dr. Ben Thompson of Waterloo’s School of Optometry and Vision Science. “It shows that marijuana and alcohol can have quite an impact on a fundamental aspect of the visual processing happening in our brains. But despite the apparently beneficial impact of marijuana on the development of the brain’s visual system, other research shows its use can actually impair the brain development of unborn children.”

The research was part of the IDEAL (Infant Development, Environment and Lifestyle) study, which is investigating the effects of prenatal drugs and alcohol exposure on cognitive and motor skills.

Further information: http://www.nature.com/articles/srep16921/