These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser.
Some 3% of all children have amblyopia—or “lazy eye”—meaning one eye’s input is processed clearly by the brain, leaving the other out of focus. A traditional treatment is unideal: wearing a patch over the good eye at least a few hours a day for weeks or longer to retrain the weaker eye. Scott Xiao, co-founder and CEO of Luminopia, created an alternative: a virtual reality headset that can display cartoons with different portions of the image shown to each eye that are blurred or eliminated, forcing the brain to better combine the input from both eyes. Children need to use the headset for just one hour a day, six days a week; vision can improve in as little as three months.
More Must-Reads From TIME
- The 100 Most Influential People of 2024
- Coco Gauff Is Playing for Herself Now
- Scenes From Pro-Palestinian Encampments Across U.S. Universities
- 6 Compliments That Land Every Time
- If You're Dating Right Now, You're Brave: Column
- The AI That Could Heal a Divided Internet
- Fallout Is a Brilliant Model for the Future of Video Game Adaptations
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
