Contact Lenses for “Near-Sightedness” (aka Myopia)
A new contact lens is being introduced March 2020 for the control of near-sightedness in children. Studies have been conducted in children aged 11 to 14 years of age. The minimum age to begin using this lens would be between 7.9 yrs. and 8.8 years of age. Study results showed that about 41%
of the children wearing the MiSight lenses showed no progression in myopia.
How does it work?
The contact lens has a “bull’s eye” target design. The center is for distance vision and the next ring is for near (a reading zone), then another ring for distance, then another for near. The rings of near vision create a soft blur on the back of the eye and tend to reduce the need for the eye to focus on the near object. By not focusing on the near object there is less pulling on the sclera (the white of the eye) which will stretch—thereby making the eye ball bigger / or longer. When you make the eyeball longer you are making the eye more near-sighted (increasing the blur for distance objects).
OCT photos. (figure 1. optical coherence tomography)
The back of the eye where the highest degree of vision occurs is the macular area. The photos show a normal macular area and one NOT normal (indicated by the central swelling). The photo on the right shows a lot of swelling---and the patient can have 20/20 vision with this. This picture is an example of Diabetic Retinal Macular Edema.