Treatment for lazy eye: play Tetris

Doctors say tile-matching puzzle could train both eyes to work together.

April 23, 2013 at 4:40PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Canadian doctors say they have found an inventive way to treat lazy eye - playing the Tetris video game.

The McGill University team discovered the popular tile-matching puzzle could train both eyes to work together. In a small study, in Current Biology with 18 adults, it worked better than conventional patching of the good eye to make the weak one work harder.

The researchers now want to test if it would be a good way to treat children with the same condition.

An estimated one in 50 children has lazy eye, known medically as amblyopia. It happens when the vision in one eye does not develop properly, and is often accompanied by a squint - where the eyes do not look in the same direction.

Without treatment it can lead to a permanent loss of vision in the weak eye, which is why doctors try to intervene early by patching.

Read more from BBC.

about the writer

about the writer

Colleen Stoxen

Deputy Managing Editor for News Operations

Colleen Stoxen oversees hiring, intern programs, newsroom finances, news production and union relations. She has been with the Minnesota Star Tribune since 1987, after working as a copy editor and reporter at newspapers in California, Indiana and North Dakota.

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