Features of meridional separable visual acuity changes in amblyopia treatment by accommodation training method in patients with astigmatism

Objective. To investigate the influence of the optic-reflex method of accommodation training on the indices of the meridional separable visual acuity in the treatment of children with amblyopia and astigmatism. Material and methods. 24 children aged 5 to 12 years with refractive amblyopia and direct hyperopic astigmatism were examined. Accommodation training was performed by defocusing the image with optical glasses of variable optical power. The course of treatment lasted 10 days. Results. In the group with meridional amblyopia, 2 different clusters were identified: in one of them, the indicators of separable visual acuity were higher in the horizontal meridian and in the other - in the vertical. After treatment, the number of eyes with the same meridional visual acuity increased. Simultaneously with the elimination of the meridional asymmetry of visual acuity, the number of eyes in the category of patients with visual acuity of 0.75-0.8 according to the Sivtsev table increased by 8.52%. Conclusion. In the standard of assessment of visual functions in patients with astigmatism and amblyopia, it is necessary to introduce methods for determining the meridional visual acuity. Evaluation of the effectiveness of treatment of meridional amblyopia should be carried out in homogeneous clusters, which take into account the coincidence or discrepancy of the directions of meridional asymmetries of visual acuity with refractive. Preliminary data on the effectiveness of treatment of amblyopia by the method of accommodation training allows us to consider it as a method of treatment of meridional amblyopia.