Myopia Risks Reduce with the Use of Multifocal Lenses

Summary: New analysis demonstrates that high-add multifocal contact lens substantially slow myopia development in babies, with rewards that persist actually after withdrawal. The lens, designed to decrease eye development and reduce long-term myopia-related dangers, showed no bounce impact after treatment stopped.

According to the BLINK2 Study findings, it is possible to start treatment earlier and continue until late adolescence. Compared to other remedies like atropine drops, macular lenses offer tough, safer power over blindness development.

Important Facts:

Long-Lasting Results: Benefits from macular lenses persist without rise after withdrawal.
• Quick Start Advantage: Starting care at younger years results in greater long-term benefits.
• Safe and Effective: Unlike another treatments, macular lenses don’t promote eye growth post-treatment.

Origin: University of Houston

Capping ten years of work to stem the tide of astigmatism, David Berntsen, Golden-Golden Professor of Optometry and head of Clinical Sciences at the University of Houston College of Optometry, is reporting that his team’s technique to decrease blindness not merely works – but lasts. &nbsp, &nbsp,

The original Bifocal Lenses in Nearsighted Kids ( BLINK) Study found that wearing high-add power multifocal contact lenses while having children with myopia slows its progression. The BLINK2 Study, which continued following these youngsters, has recently revealed that the benefits continue even after the glasses are no longer used. &nbsp,

” We found that one month after discontinuing treatment with high-add power sweet multifocal contact lenses in older teens, myopia development returns to normal with no loss of cure benefit”, information Berntsen in&nbsp, JAMA Ophthalmology. The National Eye Institute and its associates at Ohio State University College of Optometry provided funding for the investigation through the National Institutes of Health. &nbsp,

In target: A big issue&nbsp,

Leading the team at the University of Houston, Berntsen takes on a major concern. By 2050 almost 50 % of the world ( 5 billion people ) will be myopic. That implies that the person seated next to you might be wearing eyeglasses if you’re never nearsighted.

Myopia is related to a higher risk of long-term vision health issues that affect perspective and perhaps lead to blindness. &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp,

High-add multifocal contact lenses were shown to slow the rate of vision growth, reducing how naive children turned into, from the original research.

Controlling myopia’s growth during childhood might provide an additional benefit because higher levels of blindness are associated with vision-threatening vision diseases later in life, such as retinal detachment and glaucoma. &nbsp,

When blindness control contact lenses are discontinued, there has been concern that the vision may grow more quickly than usual. Our research indicates that the vision returns to growing at the age-expected price when older teenagers stop using these nearsightedness control lenses, according to Berntsen. &nbsp, &nbsp,

According to Jeffrey J. Walline, interact professor for analysis at the Ohio State University College of Optometry,” these follow-on results from the BLINK2 Study demonstrate that the therapy gain of blindness power contact lenses has a lasting benefit when they are discontinued at an older age.” &nbsp,

Eye science&nbsp,

Myopia develops when a child’s developing eye grow too far from front to back. Images of distant objects are focused at a stage in front of the eye rather than focusing straight on the retina, the light-sensitive tissue in the back of the eye. People with blindness therefore have good near perception but weak distance vision. &nbsp,

Myopic vision can be corrected with prescribed eyeglasses and contact lenses, but they fail to address the underlying issue, which is the vision continuing to grow longer than usual. Conversely, gentle multifocal contact lenses help children with myopia see better while simultaneously slowing blindness progression and preventing eye growth. &nbsp, &nbsp,

Multiplifocal contact lens, which look like bullseyes, focus light in two fundamental ways. The lens’s centre corrects nearsightedness to allow for apparent distance vision, and it directs light onto the retina.

The glass ‘ outer portion increases the amount of focusing power needed to bring the external light in front of the retina into focus. Animal studies have shown that bringing the focus of light in front of the cornea does sluggish growth. The deeper in front of the retina the reading power is higher, the more external light is focused. &nbsp,

Flash once…then twice&nbsp,

In the original BLINK study, 294 myopic children, ages 7 to 11 years, were randomly assigned to wear single vision contact lenses or multifocal lenses with either high-add power ( + 2.50 diopters ) or medium-add power ( + 1.50 diopters ). For three times, they wore the lens as frequently as they had during the day. All respondents were seen at facilities at the Ohio State University, Columbus, or at the University of Houston. &nbsp,

Children in the high-add multifocal contact lens party had shorter eyes than those in the medium-add strength and single-vision groups, and they also had the slowest rate of blindness growth and eye growth after three years in the initial BLINK study. &nbsp,

Of the original BLINK participants, 248 continued in BLINK2, during which all participants wore high-add ( + 2.50 diopters ) lenses for two years, followed by single-vision contact lenses for the third year of the study to see if the benefit remained after discontinuing treatment. &nbsp,

At the end of BLINK2, axial eye growth returned to age-expected rates. After discontinuing multifocal lenses, there was a small increase in eye growth of 0.03 mm/year across all age groups. However, it is important to point out that the overall rate of eye growth was comparable to the age-expected rate. There was no evidence for faster eye growth than was expected. &nbsp, &nbsp,

At the end of BLINK2, participants who were in the first BLINK high-add multifocal treatment group continued to have shorter eyes and lessen myopia. Children who were the first to switch to high-add multifocal contact lenses during BLINK2 did not match those who had worn high-add lenses since the start of the study between the ages of 7 and 11 years old. &nbsp,

By contrast, studies of other myopia treatments, such as atropine drops and orthokeratology lenses that are designed to temporarily reshape the eye’s outermost corneal layer, showed a rebound effect ( faster than age-normal eye growth ) after treatment was discontinued. &nbsp, &nbsp,

Our findings support a reasonable decision to start using multifocal contact lenses in children until the late teens when myopia progresses more slowly, according to Berntsen. &nbsp, &nbsp,

For more information, visit the&nbsp, NEI webpage on myopia. &nbsp,

Funding: The study received support from NIH grants UG1 EY023204, EY023206, EY023208, EY023210, P30 EY007551, UL1 TR002733. &nbsp,

About this news from a study on visual neuroscience

Author: Laurie Fickman
Source: University of Houston
Contact: Laurie Fickman – University of Houston
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Closed access.
According to David Berntsen and colleagues,” After discontinuing soft multifocal contact lens wear, myopia progresses and axial growth begins.” JAMA Opthalmology

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Abstract

After discontinuing soft multifocal contact lens wear, myopia progresses and axial growth begins.

Importance  

For myopia control to be beneficial, it would be important that the benefit of treatment ( slowed eye growth ) is not lost because of faster than normal growth ( rebound ) after discontinuing treatment.

Objective  

To assess whether there is a loss of the treatment effect ( rebound ) after soft multifocal contact lenses are discontinued in children with myopia.

Design, Setting, and Participants&nbsp, &nbsp,

The Bifocal Lenses in Nearsighted Kids 2 ( BLINK2 ) cohort study involved children with myopia ( aged 11-17 years at BLINK2 baseline ) who completed the BLINK Study randomized clinical trial.

Enrollment was from September 2019 through January 2021, follow-up was completed in January 2024. In the BLINK2 Study, all children wore high-add ( + 2.50 diopter]D] ) multifocal soft contact lenses for 2 years and single-vision soft contact lenses during the third year to determine if rebound occurred.

Exposure  

High-add multifocal soft contact lenses and single-vision soft contact lenses.

Main Outcomes and Measures&nbsp, &nbsp,

Eye length ( optical biometry ) and refractive error ( cycloplegic autorefraction ) were measured annually.

Results  

Of 248 participants enrolled in BLINK2, 235 completed the study. The median age at the baseline visit was 15 years ( range, 11-17 years ), 146 participants ( 59 % ) were female, and 102 ( 41 % ) were male.

At baseline for BLINK2, mean ( SD ) axial length and spherical equivalent refractive error were 25.2 ( 0.9 ) mm and −3.40 ( 1.40 ) D, respectively. After participants switched from multifocal to single-vision contact lenses, axial elongation increased by 0.03 mm per year (95 % CI, 0.01 to 0.05 ) regardless of their original BLINK treatment assignment ( P = .81 ).

There was also an increase in myopia progression after switching to single-vision lenses of −0.17 D per year (95 % CI, −0.22 to −0.12 ) that did not depend on the original BLINK treatment assignment ( P = .57 ).

Based on the BLINK Study treatment assignment, the original high-add group had shorter eyes and less myopia than the original medium-add ( + 1.50 D) and single-vision groups, despite the ongoing existence of a difference in axial length and refractive error throughout the entire BLINK2 study.

Conclusions and Relevance&nbsp, &nbsp,

The BLINK2 Study found no proof of a loss of treatment effects in older teenagers after they stop using multifocal contact lenses. These findings support continuing use of multifocal lenses until the end of elongation and progression, and suggest that eye growth and myopia have accelerated at faster than expected rates.