The effect of virtual reality technology in children after surgery for concomitant strabismus

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the effect of virtual reality (VR) technology in children after surgery for concomitant strabismus. METHODS: A total of 200 children with concomitant exotropia or concomitant esotropia were randomly divided into a training group and a control group according to the single even number random method (100 cases in each group). Patients in the training group received VR intervention training within 1 week after surgery. Patients in the control group did not receive any training. RESULTS: Six months after the surgery, the orthophoria (the far or near strabismus degree was ≤8D) rate was significantly higher in the training group than in the control group (P = 0.001), while the eye position regression rate (compared to the strabismus degree within 1 week after the surgery, the amount of regression >10D) was significantly lower in the training group than in the control group (P = 0.001). Six months after the surgery, the number of children with simultaneous vision and remote stereovision was significantly higher in the training group than in the control group (P = 0.017 and 0.002, respectively). The differences in the number of patients with peripheral stereopsis, macular stereopsis, and stereopsis in macular fovea centralis at 1, 3, and 6 months after the surgery between the training and the control groups were not statistically significant (P = 0.916, 0.274, and 0.302, respectively). CONCLUSION: The intervention of VR technology after strabismus correction effectively improved children’s visual function and maintained their eye position.