Darkness Therapy In Treatment of Visual Brain Disorders Like Amblyopia

Depriving normal visual experience in one eye early in life produces a reduction in visual acuity (amblyopia) for that eye (blue circles) while the acuity of the other eye is normal (red). The visual acuity of the amblyopic eye remains low compared to the fellow eye, but after immersion in complete darkness the amblyopic eye very quickly recovers to match the visual acuity attained by the normal eye.
Credit: Current Biology, Duffy et al.

Researchers at Dalhousie University in Canada are using total immersion in darkness in the treatment and therapy for visual brain disorders such as amblyopia.

Amblyopia, also known as 'lazy eye', is a condition when one eye does not develop a proper nerve pathway to the brain. The other eye is unaffected by this and sends stronger neuro-electrical signals than the weaker one. This confuses the brain and eventually it ignores the signals coming from the weaker eye. This results in damaged and impaired vision.

Usual treatment for Amblyopia is to cover the stronger eye with an eye patch to force the weaker eye to strengthen and stimulate impulses for that eye. This allows the person to restore normal vision.

Treating Amblyopia during early childhood, especially before the age of 5, increases the chance of successfully treating it. The earlier it is detected, and the underlying cause corrected with spectacles and/or surgery, the more successful the treatment in equalizing vision between the two eyes.

Kevin Duffy and Donald Mitchell of Dalhousie University believe that darkness therapy, where the patient is immersed in total darkness is another way of treating amblyopia and other visual brain disorders without the use of surgery, drugs, and other procedures.

Rise In Diabetes Major Cause In Increase Of Visual Impairment Cases For Young People

Studies show that cases of visual impairment not due to need for glasses is significantly increasing because of the rise in type 2 diabetes.

Obesity is a major contributing factor on the rise of type 2 diabetes among young people. For the past few years, steps have been undertaken to control obesity even going as far as increasing the taxes levied on soda and sugar rich food.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes with 95% of diabetes cases. Obesity, physical inactivity and family history of the disease are the three prime causes of the disease. But with the prevalence of diabetes, also comes its underlying effects and consequences such as vision impairment and a weakened immune system.

Type 2 diabetes is an incurable disease where the body starts to reject its own produced insulin. Insulin is needed to control the glucose (blood sugar) levels in the body. Without insulin, complications such as hyperglycemia can occur.