Novel spectacle lens design significantly slows myopia progression in children

Spectacle lenses with cylindrical annular refractive elements (CARE) significantly slowed myopia progression and axial elongation in children over 2 years compared to standard single vision lenses, according to a study.

In this double-masked, multi-center randomized clinical trial, 240 Chinese children aged 6 to 13 years with mild to moderate myopia were assigned to wear either SV lenses, CARE lenses with a 7mm central clear zone and +4.6D treatment zone, or CARE S lenses with a 9mm central zone and +3.8D treatment zone.

After 24 months, children wearing SV lenses showed an average myopia progression of -1.15D and axial elongation of 0.59 mm. In contrast, children using CARE lenses had significantly less progression, with -0.73D and 0.40 mm elongation, while CARE S wearers had -0.80D and 0.44 mm elongation. The results remained significant after adjusting for factors such as age, gender, and baseline refractive error.

Reference
Chen X, Wu M, Yu C, et al. Efficacy of cylindrical annular refractive elements (CARE) spectacle lenses in slowing myopia progression over 2 years. Am J Ophthalmol. 2025;S0002-9394(25)00305-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ajo.2025.06.017. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40517999.