A British boy (6) who almost went blind in his right eye is now regaining his sight again after he was instructed to play a game on the Nintendo DS.

 

According to the Daily Mail, Ben Michaels suffered from Amblyopia aka severe lazy eye syndrome in his right eye since he was four years old. The vision in that eye had progressively become worse and without medical intervention his loss of sight could have become permanent.

 

Michaels’ family doctor then referred him to a consultant, Ken Nischal, who put Ben on an unusual course of daily therapy. He had to spend two hours per day playing Mario Kart on a Nintendo DS with his twin Jake and also had to wear a patch over his left eye in order to give his lazy (right) eye a tougher workout.

 

The mother of the twins, Maxine (36) said that Ben’s vision had improved 250% in the first week with the gaming therapy. “When he started he could not identify our faces with his weak eye,” she said. “Now he can read with it although he is still a way off where he ought to be. He was very cooperative with the patch, it had phenomenal effect and we’re very pleased.”

 

Mr Nischal of Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, who acted as a consulted in Ben’s case, stated that the therapy helped children with weak eyesight because computer games encourage repetitive eye movement, which in turn teaches the eye to focus correctly.