Comparison of the efficacies of patching and penalization therapies for the treatment of amblyopia patients

AIM:To compare the efficacies of patching and penalization therapies for the treatment of amblyopia patients.METHODS:The records of 64 eyes of 50 patients 7 to16y of age who had presented to our clinics with a diagnosis of amblyopia,were evaluated retrospectively.Forty eyes of 26 patients who had received patching therapy and 24 eyes of 24 patients who had received penalization therapy included in this study.The latencies and amplitudes of visual evoked potential(VEP)records and best corrected visual acuities(BCVA)of these two groups were compared before and six months after the treatment.RESULTS:In both patching and the penalization groups,the visual acuities increased significantly following the treatments(P<0.05).The latency measurements of the P100 wave obtained at 1.0°,15 arc min.Patterns of both groups significantly decreased following the 6-months-treatment.However,the amplitude measurements increased(P<0.05).CONCLUSION:The patching and the penalization methods,which are the main methods used in the treatment of amblyopia,were also effective over the age of 7y,which has been accepted as the critical age for the treatment of amblyopia.