Myopia control study backs multifocals

A new study on slowing myopia in children using multifocal contact lenses has found an associated 50 per cent reduction in progression of the condition.

According to the findings, published in this month’s Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry, children who wore multifocal contact lenses had about half as much progression as those wearing single-focus lenses.

Multifocals were also associated with about 30 per cent reduction in lengthening of the eye in the study, which was one of 20 papers in a special issue on myopia.

The study looked at 40 children with myopia, aged 8-11, who were randomly assigned either multifocal or single-focus lenses.