Safety Evaluation in Healthy Adults of Motion-Based Virtual Reality Dichoptic Training for Pediatric Patients With Amblyopia: Prospective Intervention Study
Background: Patching therapy, while effective for improving visual acuity, may lower treatment adherence and hinder binocular vision development owing to monocular vision dependence. Pediatric patients with amblyopia may experience difficulties due to poor hand–eye coordination despite patching therapy. Objective: This study investigated the safety of our virtual reality (VR)-based dichoptic training application using Japanese Kendama in healthy adult participants, which was designed to improve hand–eye coordination in pediatric patients with amblyopia. Methods: This prospective intervention study involved 20 healthy young adults (median age, 21 years), including 16 women. The participants played the VR-based dichoptic training application for 30 minutes and completed a subjective symptom questionnaire containing nine questions (Q1–Q9, each scored on a 4-point scale, except Q9, which was scored as either “null” or 1) before and after the session. Specifically, Q1–Q3 assessed subjective eye symptoms, Q4–Q7 assessed physical and mental discomfort, Q8 evaluated the degree of VR session-induced arm fatigue, and Q9 evaluated visually induced motion sickness (VIMS). Results: We found no significant differences in the reported ocular symptoms (mean ± standard deviation) before and after the session, including eye fatigue (before vs. after; 1.25 ± 0.94 points vs. 1.35 ± 0.85 points), blurred vision (0.55 ± 0.50 points vs. 0.80 ± 0.40 points), eye dryness (0.95 ± 0.74 points vs. 1.25 ± 0.83 points), and VIMS (0.00 ± 0.00 points vs. 0.05 ± 0.22 points). Conclusions: The VR-based dichoptic training application showed minimal adverse ocular effects in healthy adult participants.
