Amblyopia: The clinician's view.

Abstract

During the summer of 2015, the Lasker/IRRF Initiative on Amblyopia convened two groups of scientists and clinicians with diverse backgrounds and expertise. The objective was to focus on a problem that seriously affects vision, and to see if new thinking and ideas might be helpful in the understanding of amblyopia and how these ideas can be applied to advance the field. At these sessions, David Hunter described what is currently known about this complex condition and identified the research and clinical challenges that persist. A summary of his presentation serves as an introduction to this report. As a practicing pediatric ophthalmologist, I continue to be frustrated by how frequently I encounter children with amblyopia when it is too late to restore normal or near-normal function. In this introduction to the Lasker/IRRF Initiative’s report Amblyopia: Challenges and Opportunities, I will provide the basics of amblyopia from a clinician’s view to provide common ground that facilitate open-ended discussions among clinicians and researchers interested in improving our understanding of this disease. I will present the current clinical definition of amblyopia and how we make the diagnosis, review what is understood about the cause and the nature of the deficit, provide an overview of current approaches to screening for the disease as well as its treatment, and place amblyopia in the context of its burden to the society. The current clinical definition of amblyopia is best provided by the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Preferred Practice Pattern on Amblyopia (AAO Pediatric Ophthalmology/Strabismus Panel, 2012).