Can virtual reality headsets save vision in people with lazy eye?
Boston Children's Hospital News May 19, 2017
A former professional ski racer, Travers had a concussion in a large jump that destroyed vision in one of his eyes. While he doesnÂt have amblyopia, he became interested in it and left his undergraduate studies at Harvard to find a way to treat it, sans eyepatch. He wanted something that would be more fun, more efficient and applicable to older kids – perhaps even adults.
Travers was joined by fellow Harvard students Alex Wendland, a skilled coder, and Scott Xiao, a chemical/physical biology major. They came up with the idea of a virtual reality headset, and reached out to Hunter via email. The headset would train the amblyopic eye to see by rebalancing the visual input to both eyes.
ÂThey came to me to see how plausible I thought the idea is, Hunter says.
Hunter found it plausible enough to act as a clinical advisor to their startup, Luminopia. He also agreed to facilitate a small clinical trial of the VR goggles at Boston ChildrenÂs. ÂClearly, they need data to show that this works, he says.
In the randomized trial, led by Jason Mantagos, MD, 50 patients ages 5 to 38 are watching videos through VR goggles. (Children younger than 5 have trouble using the currently available goggles.) Enrollment is still underway for children ages 5 to 7, says study coordinator Srishti Kothari, MD.
During the first four weeks, the treatment group gets LuminopiaÂs goggles, which blur the images shown to the normal eye. This compels children to use their amblyopic eye. The other group uses goggles that show normal video to both eyes. During the second four weeks, both groups use the Luminopia goggles.
ÂThe normal eye might be shown a clear view of Mickey MouseÂs ears, but blurry images of his face, while the amblyopic eye receives crisp images of both, explains Hunter. ÂChildren can choose whatever video they want to watch on YouTube, PBS or other sites, and the software processes it automatically to do the blurring.Â
Before the pilot began, there was some concern that Âwaking an amblyopic eye might cause children to start seeing double. So far that hasnÂt been a problem, Hunter says.
The trial is still in progress, but the results seem promising enough that a multi–site trial is planned to open this summer, according to Travers.
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Travers was joined by fellow Harvard students Alex Wendland, a skilled coder, and Scott Xiao, a chemical/physical biology major. They came up with the idea of a virtual reality headset, and reached out to Hunter via email. The headset would train the amblyopic eye to see by rebalancing the visual input to both eyes.
ÂThey came to me to see how plausible I thought the idea is, Hunter says.
Hunter found it plausible enough to act as a clinical advisor to their startup, Luminopia. He also agreed to facilitate a small clinical trial of the VR goggles at Boston ChildrenÂs. ÂClearly, they need data to show that this works, he says.
In the randomized trial, led by Jason Mantagos, MD, 50 patients ages 5 to 38 are watching videos through VR goggles. (Children younger than 5 have trouble using the currently available goggles.) Enrollment is still underway for children ages 5 to 7, says study coordinator Srishti Kothari, MD.
During the first four weeks, the treatment group gets LuminopiaÂs goggles, which blur the images shown to the normal eye. This compels children to use their amblyopic eye. The other group uses goggles that show normal video to both eyes. During the second four weeks, both groups use the Luminopia goggles.
ÂThe normal eye might be shown a clear view of Mickey MouseÂs ears, but blurry images of his face, while the amblyopic eye receives crisp images of both, explains Hunter. ÂChildren can choose whatever video they want to watch on YouTube, PBS or other sites, and the software processes it automatically to do the blurring.Â
Before the pilot began, there was some concern that Âwaking an amblyopic eye might cause children to start seeing double. So far that hasnÂt been a problem, Hunter says.
The trial is still in progress, but the results seem promising enough that a multi–site trial is planned to open this summer, according to Travers.
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