Doctors Treat Vision Problem With Video Games

July 5, 2010 -- Like many other 5-year-olds, Isabelle Wurmser loves to play with her Nintendo DS, which is just fine with her mother, MaryTara Wurmser.

Isabelle has amblyopia, meaning she has poor vision in one eye that's not due to any eye disease. Amblyopia is often called lazy eye, but that term is not technically correct.

Isabelle has to wear a patch for four hours a day, and for one hour while she wears the patch, she plays her Nintendo DS. During the other three hours, she works on craft projects, solves puzzles -- and does anything else that requires manipulating small pieces.

Her mom says the handheld video game has really helped Isabelle, because it improves her hand-eye coordination.

"I don't think it's as much the actual game as it is the action of trying to focus on the tiny screens and use the stylus," she says. "Her vision went from not seeing the big hand on the eye chart to 20/30 in a year."

While there's a wide body of research on how video games can lead to a decreased attention span, violent behavior and obesity in children, there hasn't been much research on how video games can make a positive contribution to children's health and well-being. But doctors agree that the Nintendo DS and other video games can be a very effective part of the treatment for amblyopia.

"Handheld video games engage the child with regard to fine motor and visual skills," says Dr. Melanie Kazlas, director of pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus service at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. "It helps prime the visual pathways to the cortex, the part of the brain that allows us to see."

Doctors say video games are even better than physical activity.

"Doing an activity with fine detail and one that requires attention is better than playing outside, because a child's attention is not engaged visually," says Kazlas.

Isabelle especially likes to play the "Smart Girl" series of games for the Nintendo DS, as well as the Zhu Zhu Pets game. Both games require a high degree of accuracy and focus to achieve the desired results.

"These two video games ... involve a high level of attention and arousal. The fact that your brain is going to learn goes up, and it's more likely to remember something if you're alert and paying attention, which will help your brain learn how to see," says Dominick Maino, an optometrist and professor of pediatrics/binocular vision at the Illinois College of Optometry and the Illinois Eye Institute.