Doctor uses Nintendo 3D video games to help detect lazy eye in kids

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Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Doctor uses Nintendo 3D video games to help detect lazy eye in kids
Doctor uses Nintendo 3D video games to help detect lazy eye in kids: Watch the report from Action News at 4:30 p.m. on June 26, 2019.

Most parents are told to limit their kids' video game time, but one eye clinic is using video games to make eye exams more effective, and fun.

Ophthalmologist Bob Arnold, his optometrist, and a video game programmer adapted Nintendo 3D games to help detect amblyopia, or lazy eye.

They say kids don't like the eye patches normally used in lazy eye tests, but putting on 3D goggles is second nature for kids today.

"The right eye sees one set of pixels and the left eye from a different angle sees a different set of pixels," said Dr. Arnold.

And the Alaska doctor says video game testing is much faster. He says kids can begin photoscreening at the the age of 1.