Amblyopia |
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Medline Plus, a medical dictionary, defines amblyopia as, dimness of sight especially in one eye without apparent change in the eye structures—called also lazy eye, lazy-eye blindness Imagine that you are the parent of a young child with the condition described above. You would do anything to help your child achieve normal sight. Any parent would. In March 2002 Emory Eye Center issued a news release touting a recent study had discovered atropine drops work just as well as patching the affected eye. That would be great news if it really was new information but according to the American Orthoptic Journal, 48: 3-7 (1998), Dr. Claude Worth discovered atropine drops work as well as patching the amblyopic eye. Dr. Claude Worth made and wrote about his discovery in 1903 --- one hundred years before Emory issued their press release. Claiming such information is 'new', 'encouraging', as Emory has done is questionable. It clearly is not new--it was new 100+ years ago but not today. Administration of the drops is not new and in comparing their report and Worth's et al literature, there is no new information coming forth from this study. No children with amblyopia benefited from this study. This study spent federal tax dollars that could have been directed toward more worthwhile efforts to help sick children. Support: |
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