Does compliance with amblyopia management improve following supervised occlusion treatment?

PURPOSE. To demonstrate improvement in compliance following supervised occlusion therapy for amblyopia in children who had failed to respond to outpatient treatment. METHODS. Retrospective review of the visual outcome of 30 children who were admitted to an ophthalmology ward for 1-day intensive supervised occlusion. These children had documented poor compliance and previously failed to respond to the outpatient occlusion treatment. During their stay a trained ophthalmology nurse educated parents regarding amblyopia and the benefits of occlusion therapy. Visual acuity (VA) of the amblyopic and fellow eyes was recorded on admission, discharge, and at each subsequent visit. The compliance was recorded from parent's history and also indirectly by noticing improvement in vision. RESULTS. The mean supervised occlusion was 7.4 hours (range 4-12 hours). The compliance with occlusion therapy improved in 23 children (77%) after discharge. The mean duration of occlusion after discharge improved to 4 hours (range 1-12 hours). The mean follow-up was 18 months (range 4-24 months). Though there was no dramatic improvement in VA at discharge there was a statistically significant improvement in VA between admission and last recorded VA (p < 0.0001). Of the 23 children who were compliant with occlusion following discharge, 21 (91%) gained at least one line of acuity in their amblyopic eye on the last assessment of their VA and five of them achieved 6/12. Of the seven children who did not comply with occlusion following discharge, only one patient gained one line improvement in his amblyopic eye. CONCLUSIONS. This study shows that supervised occlusion treatment and parental education was effective in children who had initially failed traditional outpatient treatment.