Tetris could be a fun way to treat ‘lazy’ eye

Parents often use the age-old threat “you’ll get square eyes if you watch that screen for too long” but research has found that one of the classic games of yesteryear could actually help to cure a common eye affliction.

As many as 4% of people develop a “lazy” eye, known medically as amblyopia, in very early childhood and for many that means long and often frustrating periods wearing a patch over the stronger eye to make the weaker one work harder.

However, Canadian doctors have come up with a much more fun, and potentially far more effective, way to treat the condition — playing Tetris.

The game involves stacking descending building blocks of different shapes so they form a horizontal line with no gaps — which then disappears. To be effective at the game, the player needs to monitor both the incoming shape and the space available at the bottom in which to stack it.

McGill University scientists devised goggles to make the lazy eye focus on the descending blocks and the stronger eye focus on the bottom of the screen.

They then got half of the study group of adult patients with amblyopia to play the game with no patch and the other half to wear a patch while playing.

At the end of the two weeks, the group who used both eyes had more improvement in their vision than the patched group. The patched group were then given the chance to play with both eyes uncovered and their vision improved significantly as well.

Dr Robert Hess, who led the research, told Canada.com: “The two eyes work together for the first time ever for them; the stronger it [the weaker eye] becomes and the more we can increase the contrast in the good eye, higher and higher, and bring it all the way up so the contrast is the same. We know they’re doing it because they’re playing a video game, where to increase the contrast, they need to get a good score. And to get a good score, they need to have combined the information in two eyes.”

The researchers will now test if the process would be an effective treatment for children with amblyopia.