Does compliance with amblyopia management improve following supervised occlusion treatment?

To demonstrate improvement in compliance following supervised occlusion therapy for amblyopia in children who had failed to respond to outpatient treatment. Retrospective review of the visual outcome of 30 children who were admitted to an ophthalmology ward for 1-day intensive supervised occlusion. These children had documented poor compliance and previously failed to respond to the outpatient occlusion treatment. During their stay a trained ophthalmology nurse educated parents regarding amblyopia and the benefits of occlusion therapy. Visual acuity (VA) of the amblyopic and fellow eyes was recorded on admission, discharge, and at each subsequent visit. The compliance was recorded from parent's history and also indirectly by noticing improvement in vision. The mean supervised occlusion was 7.4 hours (range 4-12 hours). The compliance with occlusion therapy improved in 23 children (77%) after discharge. The mean duration of occlusion after discharge improved to 4 hours (range 1-12 hours). The mean follow-up was 18 months (range 4-24 months). Though there was no dramatic improvement in VA at discharge there was a statistically significant improvement in VA between admission and last recorded VA (p