Analysis of the power profile of a new soft contact lens for myopia progression

Abstract

Myopia is the most prevalent refractive error and is currently considered as a public health problem because its prevalence is continuously increasing. Additionally, there is a relation between the progression of myopia and the associated risk of developing myopic maculopathy, retinal detachment and other ocular afflictions,1 with this risk increasing for higher levels of myopia. Soft bifocal contact lenses (CL) have been found to slow the progression of myopia in children.2 It was suggested that such lenses reduce the rate of myopia progression in children because of the relative myopic defocus that they induce in the peripheral retina and/or because they reduce accommodative lags.3 Related to these effects, a new CL design has been launched into the market and is focussed on myopia control. The knowledge of the optical power profile of this design could offer important information about the effective peripheral relative myopic defocus and the potential visual performance of the wearers. Therefore, in this letter the power profile of this CL is analysed. At the same time, the power profile of a similar design of a bifocal CL for presbyopia correction is addressed. This analysis will be helpful for future extended studies that will address the effectiveness on myopia progression and/or the visual performance of the patients with these two designs.