VR Kendama Game to Treat Amblyopia (Lazy Eye) in Children
Innojin, a eye-care startup in Japan, has teamed up with Sumitomo Corp, and VR developer ImaCreate Co. to create a VR kendama game app for clinical study to treat amblyopia also known as lazy eye in children and hope to get it approved for the public by 2025.
Amblyopia is a disorder that causes blurry vision because of abnormal visual development where one’s eyesight can’t be corrected with the use of eyeglasses. The main method of treating it is to use eye glasses along with an eyepatch to cover the healthy eye for a certain duration every day, making the patient forcefully train the eye’s visual development. However, children are often unwilling to receive this treatment, and because of the decline in adherence to shielding the healthy eye, the efficacy of the treatment is decreasing. So finding a method that kids would adhere to was the main goal.
VR amblyopia Digital therapeutic lets kids receive treatment using stuff they would probably already be doing or are drawn to; such as video games, making the treatment effective and easy for everyone to follow. Head of Innojin, Takenori Inomata states the app / game is less likely to strain kid’s eyes compared with conventional games bc VR technology can distance images from players.
The VR app works by displaying different VR images to the left and right eye respectively, with the aim of achieving the same level of benefits as the eyepatch treatment. You can also train your eye hand coordination by landing various tricks.
Sumitomo Corporation (2022, September 29). Joint Development of a VR Amblyopia Digital therapeutic for Children (Press release)
Bernama (2022, September 30). Japan Startup develops VR game to treat kids’ amblyopia. The Sun Daily https://www.thesundaily.my/world/japan-startup-develops-vr-game-to-treat-kids-amblyopia-YC9895652
