Real-world efficacy of plano lenses with highly aspherical lenslets in children with pre-myopia: A prospective cohort study.

PURPOSE: To assess the efficacy of plano lenses (PLs) with highly aspherical lenslets (HALs) in controlling axial length (AL) progression in pre-myopic children.

METHODS

This prospective cohort study enrolled 103 children aged 6-12 years with a spherical equivalent refraction (SE) between -0.50 and +0.75 D. Participants were assigned to either a treatment group wearing PLs with HALs or a control group receiving no intervention. AL and SE were measured at baseline (V0), 3 months (V1), 6 months (V2) and 12 months (V3). Monthly changes in AL were calculated for V0-V1, V1-V2 and V2-V3 intervals. Repeated measures-ANOVA was performed to analyse AL changes across time intervals within and between groups.

RESULTS

A total of 95 children (8.0 ± 1.4 years) completed the study, with 46 in the treatment group and 49 in the control group. After 12 months, the treatment group showed significantly less myopic progression (0.13 ± 0.12 D) compared with the control group (0.43 ± 0.16 D; p < 0.01). AL elongation was also lower in the treatment group than in the control group (0.16 ± 0.16 mm vs. 0.30 ± 0.16 mm; p < 0.001). Monthly AL changes remained consistently lower in the treatment group across all intervals. In the treatment group, the monthly AL change was notably lower in V0-V1 than in either V1-V2 or V2-V3, whereas there were no comparable significant differences in the control group.

CONCLUSION

PL/HALs can effectively control AL growth in pre-myopic children, with the most significant impact occurring within the first 3 months of wear.