"Acupuncture may be an effective way to treat older children struggling with a certain form of lazy eye new research from China suggests although experts say more studies are needed. Lazy eye amblyopia is essentially a state of miscommunication between the brain and the eyes resulting in the favoring of one eye over the other according to the National Eye Institute. The study authors noted that anywhere from less than  percent to  percent of people worldwide are affected with the condition. Of those between one third and one half have a type of lazy eye known as anisometropia which is caused by a difference in the degree of nearsightedness or farsightedness between the two eyes. Standard treatment for children involves eyeglasses or contact lens designed to correct focus issues. However while this approach is often successful in younger children between the ages of  and  it is successful among only about a third of older children between the ages of  and . For the latter group doctors will often place a patch over the good eye temporarily in addition to eyeglasses and treatment success is typically achieved in twothirds of cases. Children however often have trouble adhering to patch therapy the treatment can bring emotional issues for some and a reverse form of lazy eye can also take root the researchers said. Study author Dr. Dennis S.C. Lam from the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences and Institute of Chinese Medicine at the Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University and Chinese University of Hong Kong and his colleagues report their observations in the December issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology. In the search for a better option than patch therapy Lam and his associates set out to explore the potential benefits of acupuncture noting that it has been used to treat dry eye and myopia. Between  and  Lam and his colleagues recruited  children between the ages of  and  who had been diagnosed with anisometropia. About half the children were treated five times a week with acupuncture targeting five specific acupuncture needle insertion points located at the top of the head and the eyebrow region as well as the legs and hands. The other half were given two hours a day of patch therapy combined with a minimum of one hour per day of nearvision exercises such as reading. After about four months of treatment the research team found that overall visual acuity improved markedly more among the acupuncture group relative to the patch group. In fact they noted that while lazy eye was successfully treated in nearly  percent of the acupuncture patients that figure dropped to less than  percent among the patch patients. Neither treatment prompted significant side effects the authors said. The team nonetheless pointed out that their studys tracking period was relatively short and that acupuncture is a complicated system that may lend itself to different success rates depending on the skills of the particular acupuncturist. And while theorizing that the apparent success of this alternative approach may have something to do with stimulating blood flow retinal nerve growth and visual cortex activity the authors acknowledged that the exact mechanism by which it works remains poorly understood. Dr. Richard Bensinger a Seattlebased ophthalmologist and spokesman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology said that the finding is certainly suggestive and worth following up. This is kind of cool he said. But I will say that I dont know of any study looking at acupuncture and vision. There are studies based on symptomatic things such as pain and I think theres pretty good evidence that it does have benefit in that respect. But for vision therapy this is the first Ive heard of it and I dont know that anyone has ever tried this before. So this is like a teaser. Of course people in those parts of the country like where I live where theres fairly wide acceptance of alternative medicine might receive this type of treatment better than others Bensinger cautioned. And no question patients will gravitate towards treatments that are covered by their insurance even if its not the best treatment. And as an alternative approach this may not be covered. But if it works he added people will certainly be excited  although it certainly needs further testing and further studies to decide if its really beneficial or not. For his part Dr. Stanley Chang chairman of the ophthalmology department at Columbia University in New York City did not seem to hold out much promise for acupunctures potential as an alternative lazy eye therapy. Acupuncture I think definitely works for pain amelioration but Im not sure it works for some of these other things he cautioned. Theyve tried it for the treatment of myopia and glaucoma without much success. And so although there havent been any really good trials comparing acupuncture with conventional therapies my guess is that its probably not going to do much for the treatment of lazy eye. However I think its worth considering or trying Chang added because nothing else seems to work very well for patients of that age including patch therapy. But what will need is a very carefully controlled study that accounts for all the variables that might have an impact on the outcome of this approach. More information For more on amblyopia visit the National Eye Institute http SOURCES Dennis S.C. Lam M.D. department of ophthalmology and visual sciences and Institute of Chinese Medicine Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University and Chinese University of Hong Kong Richard Bensinger M.D. Seattle ophthalmologist and spokesman American Academy of Ophthalmology December  Archives of of Ophthalmology."