Children aged 6 to 8 years old in China were found to experience a mean -0.30D myopic shift and a significant increase in myopia prevalence during a 5-month long COVID-19 home confinement period. Due to their age and corresponding critical stage in visual development, the change in the children’s environment and lifestyle may have been more responsible for their increased myopia than the increased online learning.
This multi-ethnic study found that parental myopia was a risk factor for myopia development in pre-school age children. The age the parents became myopic themselves had a dose-dependent effect in their children if both parents had onset of myopia before age 12. Eye care practitioners can use this to identify which children may benefit from early myopia treatment intervention.
The risk of microbial keratitis (MK) in orthokeratology-wearing children was shown in a 2013 analysis to be around 14 per 10,000 patient wearing years, but new data indicates that it may be lower. Data gathered from a large group of practices in Russia found MK risk of around 5 per 10,000 patient-wearing years, similar to the risk of daily wear soft lenses. This should increase confidence in fitting orthokeratology to children for myopia control.
This systematic review of 9 studies confirms that under-correction of myopia does not slow progression; rather, at least half of the studies have shown the myopia progression is accelerated. There was no benefit found in overcorrection, and the evidence for un-correction was equivocal. Clinically, this advocates for the full correction of myopia.
The Erasmus Medical Group in the Netherlands set out four steps in their myopia management protocol: providing visual environment advice, identifying high-risk myopes by axial length and treating them with atropine 0.5%, managing other myopes with optical treatments or lower-concentration atropine, and ceasing treatment in the late teens once axial length is stable. The described use of axial length percentile growth charts for diagnosis, choice of treatment, monitoring and cessation is a world-first.
Considering even emmetropic eyes elongate, what are the limits of myopia control efficacy? This novel analysis explores the absolute axial elongation of treated and untreated myopes in the MiSight 3-year clinical trial in comparison to previously published models of myopic and emmetropic eye growth. The results indicate a potential limit to the short-term percentage efficacy of myopia control treatments.
Children who had already participated in the two-year clinical trial either continued wearing DIMS or switched from the control SV to DIMS. Comparison to an age-matched historical control group showed a myopia control effect in the third year.
This study reports two year results from a randomized clinical trial examining Defocus Incorporated Multiple Segments (DIMS) spectacle lenses for myopia control. The findings showed around 50% refractive and 60% axial length efficacy in Hong Kong Chinese children, with an absolute effect of 0.44D lower refraction and 0.34mm less axial elongation in DIMS wearers.
This study reports one year results from an ongoing randomized clinical trial examining spectacle lenses with highly aspherical lenslet (HAL) or slightly aspherical lenslet (SAL) technology. The findings showed the HAL lens controlled refractive and axial progression by 60-70% and SAL by 30-40% over the first 12 months.
This study evaluates how orthok treatment zone diameter influences change in refraction and axial eye length over 1-year in children previously fit with orthok lenses of varying back optic zone diameter, to reveal that where treatment zone diameter was less than pupil diameter orthok’s myopia control efficacy appeared to be improved.
