Prevention of amblyopia by active production of the macular fixation reflex in infants

Among 1455 examined babies aged 3 months the authors found a lack of normal fixation reflex in both eyes in 155 and in 52 in one eye only. In these eyes the parents applied 3 times a day an alternate occlusion of eyes or of the master eye only showing the babies interesting toys. After 2 weeks 83 babies showed normalization of fixation and after following 2 weeks of over described occlusion only 8 of them did not reveal a normal fixation reflex. These babies exhibited also a convergent squint. The pleoptic treatment by means of an euthyscope was installed, followed by normalization of the fixation reflex in 3. The rest of the patients was treated with spheroprismatic glasses by localization method.