Discontinuing Multifocal Contacts Does Not Diminish Treatment Effect in Myopia

TUESDAY, Jan. 21, 2025 (HealthDay News) — No evidence is seen for loss of treatment effect after discontinuing soft multifocal contact lenses in older teenagers with myopia, according to a study published online Jan. 16 in JAMA Ophthalmology.

David A. Berntsen, O.D., Ph.D., from the University of Houston College of Optometry, and colleagues examined whether there is a loss of treatment effect (rebound) after discontinuing soft multifocal contact lenses in the Bifocal Lenses in Nearsighted Kids 2 (BLINK2) cohort study involving 248 children (aged 11 to 17 years at baseline) with myopia who completed the BLINK randomized clinical trial. All children in the BLINK2 study wore high-add (+2.50 diopter [D]) multifocal soft contact lenses for two years and single-vision soft contact lenses during the third year to ascertain whether rebound occurred.

The researchers found that the mean axial length and spherical equivalent refractive error were 25.2 mm and −3.40 D, respectively, at baseline. Regardless of the original BLINK treatment assignment, axial elongation increased by 0.03 mm/year after participants switched from multifocal to single-vision contact lenses, and myopia progression increased by −0.17 D per year after switching to single-vision contact lenses. Throughout BLINK2, there continued to be a difference in axial length and refractive error based on the BLINK Study treatment assignment; shorter eyes and less myopia were seen in the original high-add group than in the original medium-add (+1.50 D) and single-vision groups.

These results “support fitting children with multifocal contact lenses for myopia control at a younger age and, when possible, continuing treatment until the late teenage years when myopia progression has naturally slowed,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the ophthalmic industry.

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