Undercorrection of myopia enhances rather than inhibits myopia progression.
Chung K, Mohidin N, O'Leary DJ.
Department of Optometry, National University of Malaysia, 50300, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The effect of myopic defocus on myopia progression was assessed in a two-year prospective study on 94 myopes aged 9-14 years, randomly allocated to an undercorrected group or a fully corrected control group. The 47 experimental subjects were blurred by approximately +0.75 D (blurring VA to 6/12), while the controls were fully corrected. Undercorrection produced more rapid myopia progression and axial elongation (ANOVA, F(1,374)=14.32, p<0.01). Contrary to animal studies, myopic defocus speeds up myopia development in already myopic humans. Myopia could be caused by a failure to detect the direction of defocus rather than by a mechanism exhibiting a zero-point error.
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PMID: 12445849 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]