Long-Term Multifocal Contact Lens Wear May Not Affect Accommodative Measures

Long-term soft multifocal contact lens wear does not affect accommodative amplitude, lag or facility when used as a pediatric myopia control method, according to research published in Optometry and Vision Science.

Researchers conducted an analysis of children (age range, 7-11 years) with myopia from the Bifocal Lenses In Nearsighted Kids (BLINK) 1 and 2 studies (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifiers: NCT02255474 and NCT04080128, respectively) and randomly assigned participants to treatment with single vision, +1.50 D add, or +2.50 D add center-distance soft multifocal contact lenses. Study individuals underwent accommodative response measurements to a 3 D stimulus at baseline and annually for 3 years and accommodative amplitude, accommodative lead, accommodative lag, and binocular facility measurements with ±2.00 D flippers after an average 4.7 years. The investigators compared the 3 accommodative measures utilizing multivariate analysis of variance, adjusting for clinic site, sex, and age group (7-9 vs 10-11 years).

Participants who wore the +2.50 D add multifocal contact lenses demonstrated lower accommodative response compared with the single vision contact lens wearers for 3 years, but the +1.50 D add multifocal contact lens wearers only showed lower accommodative response compared with the single vision contact lens wearers for 2 years.

Following adjustment for clinic site, sex, and age group, no statistically significant or clinically meaningful differences were noted between the 3 treatment groups for accommodative amplitude (P =.49), accommodative lag (P =.41), or accommodative facility (P =.87) after an average of 4.7 years of contact lens use. 

“This was the first randomized clinical trial to investigate the effects of long-term multifocal contact lens wear on accommodation in children,” according to the researchers. “Eye care practitioners prescribing multifocal contact lenses for myopia control should not be concerned about causing long-term effects on accommodation.”

This study was limited by a failure to conduct accommodative measures throughout the entire study duration while wearing the myopia control lenses.

Disclosure: One study author declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of authors’ disclosures.