Monday, June 28, 2010

Video-games can be beneficial!

Appears video-games can be beneficial your your eyes despite what mother said. Came across this article in the British Daily Mail, found it inspiring and believe it could be done even better with an interactive application using real-time gaze tracking input. Direct quote:

"A six-year-old boy who nearly went blind in one eye can now see again after he was told to play on a Nintendo games console. Ben Michaels suffered from amblyopia, or severe lazy eye syndrome in his right eye from the age of four. His vision had decreased gradually in one eye and without treatment his sight loss could have become permanent. His GP referred him to consultant Ken Nischal who prescribed the unusual daily therapy. Ben, from Billericay, Essex, spends two hours a day playing Mario Kart on a Nintendo DS with his twin Jake. Ben wears a patch over his good eye to make his lazy one work harder. The twins' mother, Maxine, 36, said that from being 'nearly blind' in the eye, Ben's vision had 'improved 250 per cent' in the first week. She said: 'When he started he could not identify our faces with his weak eye.  Now he can read with it although he is still a way off where he ought to be. 'He was very cooperative with the patch, it had phenomenal effect and we’re very pleased.' Mr Nischal of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, said the therapy helped children with weak eyesight because computer games encourage repetitive eye movement, which trains the eye to focus correctly. 'A games console is something children can relate to. It allows us to deliver treatment quicker,' he said. 'What we don’t know is whether improvement is solely because of improved compliance, ie the child sticks with the patch more, or whether there is a physiological improvement from perceptual visual learning.' The consultant added that thousands of youngsters and adults could benefit from a similar treatment." (source)

6 comments:

John said...

nice blog and thanks for sharing informative news.
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Unknown said...

I thought playing video games is one of the common causes of eye disorders. But lazy eyes can still be prevented 'coz causes are not only being diagnosed but treatments are also given by optometrist. Indianapolis, (IN)-based eye doctors had done diagnosis to my son when we sought help. I noticed his lazy left eye when he was just 2 years old.

Unknown said...

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Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Wow!Seriously if I had to play Black Ops out of just my left eye(that's my weak eye)in order to fix it,I would do it, guaranteed.I tried it for about a minute by reading the article with only my weak eye,and it helps.If I just practice enough,I may actually be able to play Black Ops out of my weak eye as I mentioned.LOL Sounds funny,but again,if I practice for a while,it could happen.I should consider starting.

Rebecca said...

Great article, Im not going to show my son this though, it plays enough games in-between scans