Funded by the National Eye Institute, Berntsen and the BLINK Study team (Bifocal Lenses In Nearsighted Kids) at the University of Houston College of Optometry, in collaboration with researchers at Ohio State University, have made a promising discovery in combating childhood myopia. Their research demonstrates that high-add power multifocal contact lenses can slow the progression of myopia in children and that this therapeutic effect persists even after older children discontinue lens use. The study also identifies the underlying biological changes that accompany the reduced axial elongation observed with lens wear. This is a promosing finding, as myopia in children primarily results from excessive eye growth.
The study focuses on the choroid, a layer of blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrients to the retina. Importantly, the choroid slightly thickens in children wearing high-add multifocal contact lenses, the same children with slower eye growth in the BLINK Study. This finding suggests the choroid may be involved in regulating eye growth when children wear high-add multifocal contact lenses.
“We evaluated changes in subfoveal choroidal thickness and area in children wearing soft multifocal contact lenses for myopia control,” reports David Berntsen, Golden-Golden Professor of Optometry and chair of Clinical Sciences at the University of Houston, in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. “After initiating contact lens wear, subfoveal choroidal thickness and choroidal area increased in the group wearing high-add multifocal contact lenses compared to those in standard contact lenses, a difference that was maintained throughout the three-year study. Increased choroidal thickness and area after two weeks were associated with less axial elongation over three years.”
For the analyses, the study included 281 myopic children aged 7 to 11 years randomly assigned to wear single vision contact lenses or multifocal contact lenses.
“While there were no changes in choroidal thickness or area in the single vision group, eyes in the high-add multifocal contact lens group that grew less maintained a slightly thicker choroid throughout the three years of multifocal lens wear,” said Berntsen.
The BLINK study provides the longest longitudinal report of choroidal changes in myopic children wearing single vision and multifocal soft contact lenses.
Read the full news release from the University of Houston.
Source: University of Houston