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—Basic research in the medical sciences does not always seem to have direct consequences for the clinician. However, sometimes the relationships may be close. One area in which this may be true is the study of experimental amblyopia.
Since 1963, it has been known that there are easily detectable and measurable morphologic changes in the lateral geniculate nuclei of animals deprived of normal vision in their early postnatal life. Since then, much work has been devoted to the study of the changes in the visual cortex and the lateral geniculate nucleus after visual deprivation by lid suture, experimental strabismus, or anisometropia, changes that are probably similar to those underlying amblyopia in man. From this work have come many basic concepts of direct clinical relevance, such as the short time of visual deprivation necessary in the early weeks of life that causes severe central nervous changes and the importance of early