International Clinical and Medical Case Reports Journal (ISSN: 2832-5788) | Volume 5, Issue 1 | Case Series | Open Access
Raheel Faiz*
Raheel Faiz1*, Samer Elsherbiny1
1Warwick Hospital, South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust
*Correspondence to: Raheel Faiz
Fulltext PDFBackground: Amblyopia is a developmental disorder of visual function traditionally regarded as having no known direct relationship to retinal pathology. However, prior studies have suggested a potential protective association between amblyopia and the development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), particularly the wet subtype (wAMD). This study evaluates whether unilateral amblyopia confers a protective effect against macular disease across a broader spectrum of retinal conditions.
Case presentation: This observational, non-randomized sequential case series included 70 patients (140 eyes) with unilateral amblyopia and a presenting macular pathology, assessed at a single UK NHS district general hospital over an average follow-up of 62 months using best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), clinical examination, and retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT). Patients were stratified according to whether the amblyopic or non-amblyopic eye presented with the macular disease, with those showing bilateral symmetrical pathology at presentation excluded from statistical analysis. Presenting diagnoses included wAMD, diabetic macular oedema, retinal vein occlusion-related oedema, and central serous retinopathy. In Group 1, 46 non-amblyopic eyes presented with macular disease and 10 amblyopic fellow eyes later developed pathology, while in Group 2, 21 amblyopic eyes initially presented with disease and 4 non-amblyopic fellow eyes were subsequently affected. Fisher’s exact test and Chi-square analysis demonstrated no significant association between amblyopia status and either the presenting eye or the likelihood of developing macular pathology.
Conclusions: This case series found no evidence that amblyopia protects against macular pathology. Due to small and varied subgroups, larger disease-specific studies are needed to more reliably assess any potential protective effect.
Pathology; Amblyopia; Case Series
Raheel Faiz, Samer Elsherbiny. Macular Pathology in Patients with Unilateral Amblyopia: An Observational Case Series. Int Clinc Med Case Rep Jour. 2026;5(1):1-4.