The use of the helium-neon laser in the treatment of amblyopia in children

The authors analyze the efficacy of He-Ne laser therapy of amblyopia of various origins in 48 children (81 eyes). Group 1 children were not treated at all in order to assess the visual function background fluctuations (absolute controls). Along with He-Ne laser, used in Group 2, a 'placebo', slit lamp with blinking light, was used in Group 3. Vision acuity was assessed with the use of Sivtsev-Golovin's and Orlova's tables and by visocontrastometry in a blind test. Common visometry has shown a reliable and approximately similar improvement of the vision acuity in Groups 2 and 3 patients, whereas visocontrastometry has not detected any changes of visual function in all the 3 groups. These results cast doubt on the true efficacy of He-Ne laser stimulation of visual function, at least in children, and once again demonstrate that such investigations may be carried out only with a reliable ('blind') control and placebo.