New specially designed silicone hydrogel contact lenses may slow the progression of myopia in pre-teen and teenage children.
That’s the conclusion of researchers from Australia, China and the United States, who presented the findings of a new study at the recent annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO).
The researchers compared the progression of myopia among Chinese schoolchildren for a period of 6 months. All children in the study were between the ages of 7 and 14 at the beginning of the study period, and had –0.75 to –3.50 diopters (D) of myopia with no more than 0.50 D of astigmatism. A total of 65 children wore the experimental contacts, and 50 children wore eyeglasses.
The contact lenses were designed to fully correct the wearers’ central vision and reduce the relative peripheral hyperopia produced by conventional corrective lenses, which some researchers feel may be a cause of myopia progression.
At the end of the 6-month study period, the children wearing the experimental contact lenses had 54 percent less progression of their myopia than the children wearing eyeglasses.
The researchers said the study results are promising with regard to the development of a new generation of contact lenses aimed at myopia control, but additional study of the contacts over longer periods of time is needed to fully judge their effectiveness.