Scientists working at Hong Kong Polytechnic University have developed a lenses for glasses that are able to slow down myopic progression in children. The center of the lens works as in a common pair of glasses, adjusting for myopia and astigmatism, while around this region the lens consists of dozens of spots of myopic defocus that help with vision correction. These so-called Defocus Incorporated Multiple Segments (DIMS) Spectacle Lenses work at all viewing distances.
“We have tried to incorporate myopic defocus optics into different treatment modalities, such as contact lens. For spectacle lens, the challenge is the eye will move behind the spectacle lens and therefore the myopic defocus optics has to be incorporated all over the lens,” in a statement said Professor To Chi-ho of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “With the DIMS Spectacle Lens, we are able to put in many micro-lenses all over the surface of the ophthalmic lens. When the eye moves around different regions of the spectacle lens, the eye still experiences a constant amount of myopic defocus,” he added.
The glasses were recently tried on 160 children with different levels of myopia and astigmatism. The mean myopic progression in children who received the new glasses was .38 diopters while the control group was .93D. In 21% of the children using the new glasses, myopic progression stopped completely.