Over the last 30 years, short-sightedness, when your vision cannot focus on distant objects, has increased significantly and is believed to affect 42 per cent of the UK population.
A five year study, titled SMART (The Stabilisation of Myopia through Accelerated Reshaping Technique) followed 200 children with short-sightedness. After three years, in the control group - those wearing soft contact lenses - the average prescription level had worsened. Whereas those wearing overnight corrective contact lenses had minimal change in their vision.
Short-sightedness is typically diagnosed around the age of ten and progresses on average around half a dioptre per year until it stabilises in the early 20s. It is predominately hereditary, however in the last 30 years there has been a sudden increase of over 66 per cent. Modern living - extended computer use, gaming consoles, and mobile phone screens have been partly to blame, explain the study. It is estimated that children spend around seven hours a day staring at computers and mobile phones and less time in natural light, which can have detrimental impact on children's eyesight.
Overnight contact lenses are made using a unique computerised map of the eye surface and are specially designed to sleep in. They gently flatten the cornea altering the angle at which light enters the eye so it focuses correctly on the retina. By holding the eye in the correct shape as the eye develops the lens acts like a dental brace. When the lenses are removed in the morning, full vision correction is maintained for over 24 hours. The lenses can be worn at any age but for children the additional benefit of stabilising their prescription before it becomes too high is significant. In the long term those with high degrees of short-sightedness are more likely to develop retinal detachment, glaucoma and cataracts.
Shelly Bansal, a specialist contact lens practitioner in Middlesex said: "Over the years there have been many products which have claimed to halt myopia progression in children, but this third successive year of positive trial results in the ‘Myopia Control' study suggests there is real evidence to support overnight vision correction as a treatment for short-sighted children".
Today, one in five children aged five to 15 years need vision correction yet only one in 12 who could wear contact lenses actually starts a vision correction programme.
Jennifer Golden, CEO of i-GO Optical, corrective lens specialist in the UK said: "Whilst i-GO lenses are still relatively new here in the UK, there are now over 100,000 people wearing them worldwide. They have major benefits for children because of the added freedom and confidence it gives them at school and more importantly in their ability to potentially arrest further development of myopia."
