Children with monocular myopia need glasses to slow myopia progression
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Key takeaways:
- Abnormal accommodative function and unbalanced input of binocular visual signals could contribute to myopia progression.
- Uncorrected monocular myopia may worsen stereopsis acuity in adulthood.
Children with monocular myopia should wear glasses to delay myopia progression resulting from abnormal accommodative function and unbalanced input of binocular visual signals, according to researchers.
“Monocular myopia could lead to abnormal accommodative function and unbalanced input of binocular visual signals, accelerating myopia,” Aiqun Xiang, from the Eye Center of Xiangya Hospital in China, and colleagues wrote in Frontiers in Neuroscience. “In addition, monocular myopia may cause stereopsis dysfunction, and long-term uncorrected monocular myopia may impair stereopsis acuity in adulthood.”
In a study of 106 participants, researchers compared refractive parameters, accommodation, stereopsis and binocular balance among three groups: children with monocular myopia (n = 41), adults with monocular myopia (n = 26) and children with binocular low myopia (n = 39).
According to results, there were significant differences in uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), spherical equivalent (SE) and accommodative amplitude (AA) between myopic and emmetropic eyes in children with monocular myopia, but no significant differences in best corrected visual acuity and accommodative facility (AF).
In adults with monocular myopia, the researchers reported significant differences in UCVA, SE, AA and AF between myopic and emmetropic eyes, but no significant difference in BCVA.
There were no significant differences in accommodative functions between children with monocular myopia and children with binocular low myopia.
Researchers also reported that the normal rate of random dot stereopsis was higher in children vs. adults with monocular myopia. Conversely, the normal rate of dynamic stereopsis was lower in children with monocular myopia vs. children with binocular low myopia.
“Generally speaking, children with monocular myopia must wear glasses for timely correction and to rebuild binocular balance and binocular vision function, and delay the development of myopia,” Xiang and colleagues wrote.
Perspective
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This study explores the effects monocular myopia paired with an emmetropic eye may have on a young individual’s ability to develop stereopsis, balance, visuomotor skills and potential myopic progression. With more than 30 years of LASIK procedures already performed, where presbyopic patients are given the option for monovision, having a study look into whether a sort of natural monovision is acceptable for children and adolescents provides valuable data for the ophthalmic field.
These results unambiguously suggest to clinicians that complete visual correction in both eyes is of utmost importance for the proper development of the visual system. Any clinician who encounters a patient who may presume that vision correction is unnecessary due to no tangible symptoms — at least none yet — now has reliable ground upon which to stand and educate the patient as to why proper correction is needed bilaterally. Because the study results demonstrate a statistically significant deficiency in the myopic eye compared to the emmetropic eye in regard to acuity, accommodative amplitude and accommodative facility, it is not unreasonable to also suspect a correlating deficiency of some degree in visuospatial processing, visuomotor skills and overall motor development. Clinicians can apply this knowledge to our clinical practices and reinforce to all patients the importance of appropriate bilateral vision correction.
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