New Glasses May Slow the Progression of Nearsightedness in Children

For many children, getting their first pair of glasses is a positive event because they can see clearly again. But what if a pair of glasses could not only help with the symptoms of myopia (nearsightedness), but also slow its progression?

According to AP News, these are exactly what the newly FDA approved glasses by Essilor Stellest do. When used by children from the ages of six to 12, they can slow the progression of myopia by 70 percent in two years.

Rising Rates of Myopia
The rates of myopia around the world are rising, possibly due to increased time inside looking at screens. In the US, 30 to 40 percent of children and young adults will develop myopia by the time they finish high school.

According to CNN, myopia develops when the eye grows too long, and this causes the image that is projected on the retina to be poorly focused when the eyes are looking at something in the distance. It typically accelerates during childhood, when the eyes and retina are still growing, and then levels off in adulthood. Thus, the importance of slowing its progression in children.

Slow Eye Growth
So, how do the Essilor Stellest glasses work? The lenses of the glasses have a clear middle, but that center is surrounded by rings of miniscule raised dots.  These dots defocus peripheral light, which is thought to slow the progression of myopia by slowing the growth of the eyes.

Dr. Jeff Walline, a professor of optometry at Ohio State University told CNN, “the whole retina regulates eye growth, but we need to provide the central retina with clear vision, so we put the signals to slow eye growth in the peripheral retina.”

Though, tests have shown that this method is effective at slowing the progression of myopia in children, it is not clear why defocusing peripheral light slows eye growth. It is also still unknown what the exact visual images that are processed by the retina to slow growth are. And yet, the Essilor Stellest glasses work.

Slowing the rate of myopia development in children is not only important because it will allow them to see better as adults, it is also important because myopia can cause changes to the retina that can lead to complications down the road, such as a higher risk for glaucoma, myopic maculopathy, and retinal detachment. All of these can eventually lead to permanent vision loss.

Sometimes it is not as important to know how something works, but only that it does work. Though the finer details regarding why placing tiny dots along the periphery of a glasses lens slows the development of myopia in children are hidden, it is enough to know that it does.