Comparison of two-year myopia control efficacy between spectacle lenses with highly aspherical lenslets and orthokeratology lenses

Purpose: To compare the two-year efficacy of spectacle lenses with highly aspherical lenslets (HAL) and orthokeratology (OK) lenses in managing myopia in children.

Methods: This retrospective study examined medical records from the Affiliated Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, involving 1683 HAL users and 1192 OK users. Participants were children aged 8-13 with a refractive error of -0.50 to -6.00 D. They were divided by age into younger (8-10 years) and older (11-13 years) groups and further divided into low myopia (-0.50 to -3.00 D) and moderate myopia (<-3.00 to -6.00 D) subgroups. The participants were included in either the 1-year or 2-year follow-up group based on the length of their follow-up records. The change in axial length (AL) was compared between the HAL and OK groups using t-tests and multiple linear regression analysis.

Results: In the younger group, HALs yielded significantly slower AL elongation than did the OK lenses at both the 1-year (HAL: 0.16 ± 0.19 mm; OK: 0.22 ± 0.17 mm; p < 0.001) and 2-year follow-ups (HAL: 0.32 ± 0.27 mm; OK: 0.37 ± 0.24 mm; p = 0.009). In the older group, the AL changes did not significantly differ by lens at the 1-year (p = 0.782) or 2-year (p = 0.239) follow-up. Among the low myopia subgroup, the HAL users consistently exhibited smaller AL changes than did the OK users across all follow-ups (p < 0.05), except at the 2-year follow-up in the olders (p = 0.414). For the moderate myopia subgroup, the OK lenses yielded significantly slower AL changes at the 2-year follow-up (younger: p = 0.013; older: p = 0.01), although no significant differences were found at the 1-year follow-up (younger: p = 0.635; older: adjusted: p = 0.143).

Conclusions: HALs are significantly more effective than OK lenses in controlling AL elongation in younger children with low myopia, while both treatments show similar effectiveness in older children. For moderate myopia, OK lenses are preferred for superior long-term control.