Treatments to slow the progression of myopia such as atropine eye drops, spectacles and contact lenses have been assessed in a Cochrane review.
In the Interventions to slow progression of nearsightedness in children report, researchers looked at 41 studies that included a total of 6,772 children.
Researchers assessed how certain the evidence was for each review and graded them as very low, low, moderate, or high certainty.
Eye drops, in particular antimuscarinic drugs such as atropine, pirenzepine gel, and cyclopentolate were graded as having moderate certainty evidence, with authors highlighting that the treatment is effective in slowing myopia progression in children.
However, the report noted that antimuscarinic eye drops may result in blurred near vision, sensitivity to light, some discomfort and itching, and medication residue on the eyelids or eyelashes.
Multifocal spectacles (bifocal or progressive addition lenses) were graded as moderate certainty and yielded small effect in slowing myopia progression when compared to single vision lenses.
It highlighted that although orthokeratology contact lenses are not intended to modify refractive error, they were more effective than single vision lenses in slowing axial elongation.
Ortho-k lenses were graded as having moderate certainty, while bifocal soft contact lenses had low certainty evidence.
The review found that spherical aberration soft contact lenses had low certainty evidence and added that these treatments may have small or no effect on myopia progression.