Vision Quality Preferred in Single Vision Over Myopia Control Contact Lenses

Children, teenagers and young adults rate single vision (SV) contact lenses as having superior vision quality compared with myopia control (MC) contact lenses, according to research published in Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics. Since adhering to wear time instructions increases MC efficacy, and patients are likely to comply when subjective visual quality is optimal, optimizing design features may improve compliance and wearer experience among patients fit with MC lenses, the report suggests. 

Researchers retrospectively reviewed data from 31 individuals with myopia (-0.75 to -3.50 diopters [D] and <1.00 D cylinder; age range, 9-35 years; 61% women and girls) consisting of children (n=10), teenagers (n=11), and young adults (n=10) from 2 double-masked, bilateral wear, crossover contact lens clinical trials conducted at a single center between 2013 and 2014. The participants were randomly assigned to treatment with 1 of the 2 MC lenses with relative peripheral plus powers of either +1.50 D or +2.50 D or a SV control lens. After 1 week of lens wear, participants crossed over to another contact lens treatment for another week, and repeated the process until undergoing treatment with all 3 lens designs. The research team collected data which included visual acuity, wearing time, subjective ratings of comfort, distance vision and near vision clarity as well as overall vision.

After 1 week of lens wear, participants in all age groups could differentiate between the SV and MC lenses for distance, near, and overall vision (P <.05 for all), according to the report. 

There were no differences between age groups regarding comfort or distance and near vision between the SV and MC lenses (all P >.05), and all participants reported  better vision quality when wearing SV compared with MC lenses. Children rated the overall vision quality higher compared with teenagers and young adults for both SV and MC lenses (P <.05 for both), but there were no significant differences in high-contrast visual acuity with the SV (P =.12) or MC lenses (P =.55) or low-contrast visual acuity with the MC lenses (P =.51) between the groups.  

Children reported the lowest daily wear time for all lens types (P <.02 for all) and wear time was positively associated with overall vision quality ratings for children and young adults (P <.05 for both), but not teenagers (P =.60), the report shows. 

“The subjective ratings of MC lenses appear similar between age groups relative to the SV lenses,” according to the researchers. “Since compliance with wear time is important for MC efficacy, optimizing the subjective visual quality with MC optical devices is indicated. Improved understanding of the optical design features necessary to control eye growth will help to ensure that optical design features are optimized in a way where vision compromise is moderated in favor of subjective quality of vision.”

Study limitations include the retrospective design and small sample size. 

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