The FDA Just Approved A VR Treatment For A Common Eye Disorder

Virtual Reality (VR) is most often associated with gaming, but the United State’s FDA recently approved it for the treatment of a common eye disorder, amblyopia (lazy eye), that is considered the leading cause of vision loss in children. Making use of technology to improve health is a growing trend with most major technology manufacturers building health sensors and apps for their devices. In this case, it is a relatively small biotech company called Luminopia that’s bringing this advance.

VR has been around for decades but has only recently become widespread with the growth spurred by Google Cardboard, Oculus Quest, HTC Vive, and others. Enterprise employs VR for remote training and real-time collaboration in virtual workrooms. VR is also being used for sports training, allowing repetition and stress-free practice wherever the athlete happens to be.

One of the least common and most rewarding uses of VR relates to medicine. Using the technology to achieve results that might not otherwise be possible, Luminopia pioneered a treatment for amblyopia, a fairly common eye disorder that relates to how the brain interacts and controls each eye and uses them in concert for better vision. With amblyopia, the dominant eye is favored to the point that the weaker eye becomes ignored. Using a VR headset, Luminopia developed a way to correct this problem, and the results have led to a de novo premarket approval for ‘Luminopia One’ by the Food and Drug Administration as a prescription treatment of amblyopia, according to the press release.

How Luminopia VR Helps Amblyopia

Simply wearing an Oculus Quest headset is unlikely to help with amblyopia. Instead, Luiminopia’s solution uses a VR headset for the purpose of controlling what is seen by each eye. Different portions of an image, somewhat like a jigsaw puzzle are shown to each eye forcing the brain to make use of both eyes together to make sense of what is being shown. In addition, the dominant eye has the image faded to reinforce that more information should be drawn from the weaker eye. The methodology is quite clever, using the natural tendencies of the mind to retrain it to see under these new conditions.

Luminopia One is expected to launch in the second quarter of 2022 and the treatment involves watching videos via an unnamed VR headset that shows an altered view to each eye for one hour per day, six days per week. A randomized, controlled, clinical trial tested 105 participants over twelve weeks and the results showed 62-percent of kids that received the Luminopia VR treatment had a significant improvement in amblyopic eye visual acuity, versus just 33-percent in the control group. This demonstrates how effective VR technology can be at restructuring reality to open up new avenues of opportunity.

Source: Luminopia/Business Wire

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Alan Truly
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Alan is a Tech Writer living in Nova Scotia, Canada. A tech-enthusiast since his youth, Alan stays current on what is new and what is next. With over 30 years experience in computer, video and photo equipment, you can expect useful tips and insights in his writing. Alan has a degree in programming, many years focused on design, editing, and animation. A period of managing logistics and e-commerce operations for a mobile accessories company rounds out a diverse background. Alan is a true jack of all digital trades in this ever-changing computer-enriched world. To stay flexible in mind and in body, he practices yoga, light cardio, and eats a whole food diet, based on minimally processed plants.

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