Using Multifocal Contact Lenses to Slow Eye Growth and Reduce Childhood Myopia

Recent research highlights the potential of high-add power multifocal contact lenses in managing childhood myopia, a condition affecting approximately 35% of children worldwide and projected to impact over 740 million children by 2050. Experts at the University of Houston, led by Professor David Berntsen, along with collaborators from Ohio State University, have conducted extensive studies—including the BLINK and BLINK2 studies—demonstrating that children wearing these specialized lenses experience slower eye growth, which is a key factor in myopia development.

The underlying mechanism involves biological changes in the eye, particularly in the choroid—a vascular layer supplying the retina. Children using high-add multifocal lenses showed a slight thickening of this layer, correlating with reduced axial elongation of the eye over three years. This is significant because myopia develops when the eye grows too long from front to back, causing light to focus improperly and resulting in blurred distance vision.

Berntsen and his team evaluated changes in subfoveal choroidal thickness and area, finding that children wearing these lenses experienced an increase in choroidal thickness, which remained consistent throughout the study period. The biological response appears to play a role in regulating eye growth, offering promising evidence for myopia control.

The studies involved 281 children aged 7 to 11, comparing those wearing single vision contact lenses versus multifocal lenses. The group with high-add multifocal lenses maintained a thicker choroid and exhibited less eye elongation. These findings suggest that this intervention could provide a long-term approach to slowing myopia progression in children.

This line of research offers hope for effective myopia management and highlights the importance of biological factors like the choroid in controlling eye growth. The findings are published in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.