Hong Kong Polytechnic Finds Partner to Release Myopia-Slowing Contact Lenses
Liao Shumin
DATE:  Jan 23 2018
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Hong Kong Polytechnic Finds Partner to Release Myopia-Slowing Contact Lenses Hong Kong Polytechnic Finds Partner to Release Myopia-Slowing Contact Lenses

(Yicai Global) Jan. 23 -- Hong Kong Polytechnic University has developed 'optical defocus' soft contact lenses that could slow down myopia, or short-sightedness, in children, and has partnered a local startup to commercialize them.

Children's eyeballs may become elongated due to rapid growth during development, state-owned news agency Xinhua quoted researchers at the university as saying. This leads to the light entering their eyes focusing in front of the retina, rather than on it, which is what causes myopia. The lenses use a natural feedback mechanism to make eyeballs grow to a more 'normal' size.

The university enrolled 128 nearsighted patients aged between 8 and 13 years into its study. The results showed that the lenses could slow down myopic degradation by as much as 60 percent.

Ideally, children would take eye tests regularly from the age of four or five, and receive a professional assessment on whether or not they need soft contact lenses, the report said. To maintain best control over myopia, patients should wear the lenses for eight hours a day over the course of 10 years at a cost of around HKD8,800 (USD1,126) per annum, said the founder of Visual Science and Technology Co., which is commercializing the product.

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Keywords:   Shortsightedness,Contact Lenses,Myopia,Eyesight