Syntonic phototherapy is a non-invasive light therapy treatment using specific light colours, frequency and wavelength to improve body regulatory centres in the brain. It is proposed that red light increases cell membrane capacitance buildup of electrical charge before discharge that increases the nerve cell change to break through synaptic resistance to overcome amblyopia. The aim of this study was to assess stereoacuity in amblyopia patients following syntonic phototherapy. The study recruited 30 amblyopia patients aged 8–18 years; 15 with moderate anisometropic amblyopia (AA) and 16 with moderate strabismic amblyopia (SA). There were 12 males and 18 females with mean age of 14.93 years. Treatment was with red filter glasses for four weeks. Pre-treatment, overall mean best corrected visual acuity was 0.69 ±0.37 and post-treatment was 0.45 ±0.39. For AA patients, mean pre-treatment stereoacuity was 150.67 ±73.63” and post-treatment was 102.67 ±36.15” – a significant difference. For SA patients, mean pre-treatment stereoacuity was 2030.93 ±1478.57” and post-treatment was 360.00 ±82.81” – a significant change. Anisometropic amblyopic patients had greater improvement in stereoacuity than SA patients. The goal of this study was to determine if unconventional syntonic phototherapy shows improvement of stereoacuity in AA and SA, and to compare which amblyopia types showed more improvement. The results indicate significant improvement of stereoacuity in both groups with more for anisometropia. Given the experimental nature of this study, further research is warranted with greater numbers of participants and with comparisons to conventional therapies.
Treatment of anisometropia and strabismus amblyopia with syntonic phototherapy
Reviewed by Fiona Rowe
Assessment of stereopsis in unilateral amblyopia subjects using syntonic phototherapy.
CONTRIBUTOR
Fiona Rowe (Prof)
Institute of Population Health, University of Liverpool, UK.
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