Low-level red light therapy superior to ortho-K for myopia control at 1 year
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Key takeaways:
- Axial length growth was significantly lower in the red light therapy group during the first year.
- There was no significant difference in axial length growth between the groups in the second year.
Low-level red light therapy was superior to orthokeratology lenses at slowing myopia progression in children in the first year of treatment, though the difference was not significant in the second year, according to study results.
“The comparative long-term efficacy of the repeated low-level red light therapy based on photobiomodulation vs. orthokeratology lenses based on peripheral myopic defocus principles remains uncertain,” Jing-Ru Sun, MM, and colleagues from the department of optometry at Jinhua Eye Hospital wrote in Optometry and Vision Science. “This study aimed to retrospectively analyze the effectiveness of repeated low-level red light therapy and orthokeratology lenses in controlling myopia in children over a 2-year period.”
The researchers included 138 children aged 6 to 14 years, of whom 67 were in the red light therapy group and 71 in the ortho-K lens group.
After 2 years, the change in axial length from baseline in the ortho-K group was 0.5 ± 0.27 mm compared with 0.17 ± 0.4 mm in the red light therapy group (P < .001). In the first year, the ortho-K group had a significantly higher increase in axial length at 0.28 ± 0.18 mm compared with 0.03 ± 0.22 mm in the red light therapy group (P < .001).
While the red light therapy group demonstrated a 55% reduction in axial length at 1 month, the ortho-K group demonstrated a 4% reduction. At 1 year, the red light therapy group showed a 42% reduction compared with 3% in the ortho-K group.
There was no significant difference in axial length growth between the two groups in the second year.
Throughout the study period, the researchers detected no retinal damage in the red light group, nor any complications among those in the contact lens group.
“The difference was significant in the first year; however, the control effects of the two were similar in the second year,” the researchers wrote. “Therefore, such a clinical application method can be considered for effective control of myopia progression.”
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