Why Patching Alone Falls Short
Clinical evidence on the limitations of occlusion therapy from Woods/Awan/Gottlieb (BJO 2006), McGill Vision Research and the University of Toronto — and the case for binocular dichoptic treatment.
Limitations of Full-Time Patching
Patching eliminates normal binocular visual experience during treatment, potentially limiting the development of binocular vision and stereopsis.
Woods, Awan & Gottlieb (BJO, 2006) reported "disappointingly modest improvements in visual acuity" despite prolonged treatment.
Children refuse to wear the patch, experience social stigma, reduced quality of life, and emotional stress — all leading to poor adherence.
McGill Vision Research found that repeatedly patching the fellow eye may reinforce binocular imbalance rather than reduce it.
University of Toronto researchers noted treatment is "not always successful and is frequently associated with compliance difficulties and recurrence."
What Research Shows
“Patching for amblyopia has shown disappointingly modest improvements in visual acuity.”
British Journal of Ophthalmology, 2006
“Emerging approaches such as perceptual learning and binocular therapy may provide additional benefits for both children and adults with amblyopia.”
Dept. of Ophthalmology, University of Toronto
“Repeatedly patching the fellow eye — a practice used for more than 300 years — may in some cases reinforce binocular imbalance rather than reduce it.”
McGill Vision Research Unit
The Binocular Therapy Approach
OculoNeuro Synex directly targets the root cause: cortical suppression and binocular imbalance. Our dichoptic training games present different contrast levels to each eye simultaneously — encouraging both eyes to work together, reducing suppression, and rebuilding true binocular vision.