or
short-sightedness is a refractive eye disorder where the affected person can
see nearby objects clearly but has difficulty with focusing on distant objects. Either the
eyeball is too long from front to behind, or the lens inside the eye is too
curved; both these factors do not allow the formation of a clear image. Myopia
is treated with corrective lenses or laser surgery once the child grows up.
‘A special contact lens that slows the progression of myopia is being evaluated by its manufacturers to control the rising number of moderate-to-severe myopia cases.’
Myopia commonly affects
children, and a delay in diagnosis could affect the child's performance in
school.
The exact cause of myopia in children is not known. It could be hereditary or
possibly due to environmental factors. It has been suggested that being outdoors
and getting exposed to sunlight and viewing longer distances can reduce the
chances of myopia. This could explain the growing incidence of myopia
especially in the East Asian countries, where stress is laid on academic
performance. This, however, has to be validated.
Short-sightedness progresses as the child grows up. Severe
myopia is associated with eye diseases like glaucoma, cataract or retinal
detachment. Quite often, the children do not complain about their inability to
see clearly since the condition is present from birth, and they do not know
what clear vision is. Regular eye check-ups in schools and health care centers
could help to identify several cases at an early stage.
In a clinical trial, the
ability of a special type of contact lenses to reduce myopia progression in
children was tested by the manufactures of the lenses. A hundred
and forty four children with myopia aged between 8 and 12 years from four
countries - Singapore, Canada, England, and Portugal - were included in the
study. The lens power in these children varied from 0.75D to 4.00D. The
children were divided into two groups - one group used a dual-focus daily
disposable myopia control soft contact lens, while the second group used single
vision contact lens for comparison. The study was carried out for a period of
three years.
According
to the researchers:
- The dual-focus lenses slowed the progression of
short-sightedness by 59% when measured by a parameter called mean cycloplegic
spherical equivalent (SE)
- The lenses
were well accepted by the children, and had a higher satisfaction as compared
to spectacles
- The
lenses did not affect their daily activities which include school work,
reading, playing outside, and computer use
- Most children could use their lenses
independently
- The
ease among the parents about the children wearing the contact lenses increased
from less than 50% at the beginning of the study to 79% after one month after
beginning the treatment
- Nine
out of ten parents rated their children as extremely happy with the overall
experience of wearing contact lenses
Further studies in
larger number of children will be required to confirm the findings of this
study, before the lenses can be accepted for general use. The cost of the
treatment will also have to be considered, especially in the Asian countries
that are seeing a myopia boom.
Reference :
- Paul Chamberlain. 3-year
effectiveness of a Dual-Focus 1 Day Soft Contact Lens
for Myopia Control. Presented at the 40th BLCA
Clinical Conference, Liverpool, June 9-11, 2017
Source: Medindia
