LAUSR

Professor Alfred Bangerter’s (1909–2002) monograph on amblyopia management “Amblyopiebehandlung” was published in 1953 and again, in an augmented edition, in 1955. It represents the first thorough textbook devoted to the functional therapy of amblyopia in the time of its beginnings. Professor Bangerter was the first in continental Europe to introduce in the 1940es the visual exercises. The suggestion to do so had been provided by his teacher in Bern, Professor Hans Goldmann. He was, closely followed by his contemporary Professor Curt Cüppers (1910–1995), one of the pioneers of functional re-education of amblyopia and concomitant strabismus. He willingly explained his method to many people and, in this way, came to write this monograph. The impetus given by Bangerter and Cüppers to the prevention and treatment of amblyopia was decisive and continues to govern our strabismological and orthoptic practice, now with, of course, updated methods. What remains for present-day strabismology and orthoptics from the intense activity of Bangerter, lasting over half a century and to which his rich monograph testifies? He introduced a method of treatment and developed many ingenious instruments. The one of these that is still fundamental for ophthalmic and orthoptic practice and used daily all over the world, is indisputably the visuscope, developed together with Cüppers and Oculus Optikgeräte in Wetzlar, for assessment of the site of fixation in the amblyopic eye. Also, “Bangerter Occlusion Foils” are currently still widely used. Two aspects must be considered in his method of treatment, first the clinical examination and secondly the treatment itself. Bangerter first brought to attention the importance of the site of fixation in the amblyopic eye apart from its visual acuity, its refractive error and absence of anomalies of the eye itself. On the other hand, his concept of late treatment of amblyopia with active exercises was supplanted during the 1960es already by the method of early treatment developed by Cüppers, which has become the current standard of treatment. For the pleoptic and orthoptic schools created in the 1950es, and for many strabismologists and orthoptists practicing at the time, Bangerter’s monograph was the reference and the basis of their practice. They applied his method with conviction. Because of the burden of the treatment, especially in cases of deep amblyopia, and because of the results obtained, reported objectively in his monograph, the transition to early treatment appeared as a natural continuation of Bangerter’s work. His monograph remains a milestone in the emergence of the functional treatment of amblyopia and concomitant strabismus in the middle of the XXth century. STRABISMUS 2017, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 171 https://doi.org/10.1080/09273972.2017.1408261