Letters: Myopia control spectacle lenses

One appreciates this is an ongoing key topic for practitioners and one we ourselves as spectacle makers do try to follow as attentively as possible, notwithstanding today it being a subject mostly contact lens focused. However, our antenna quivered at a phrase within the Optician report of last autumn’s Essilor Optical Teachers Symposium which discussed ‘Whether modern aspheric spectacle lenses which typically increase hyperopic peripheral focus might be making myopia worse for those children who wear them.’

Perhaps here is not the place to debate those myopia control (MC) lens theories (too little space and time) but merely to add an opinion that this is a fascinating statement as we are not aware of anyone prescribing goodly numbers of aspheric lenses for myopic children. The vast majority seemingly ending up with the most economical and thus more basic of lens designs and available materials. We must assume this position arises from the assumption that many dispensed will soon be lost, damaged or a changed Rx within short periods. Hence we would argue with very limited prescribing of myopic aspherics to children there is likely little feedback as to actual outcomes anyway of fitting aspheric or corrected field single vision lenses for myopic children.