- Eyesight specialist Visioneering Technologies (VTI) has reported positive data for its NaturalVue contact lenses used by shortsighted children
- Visioneering monitored 153 U.S. children with myopia, or nearsightedness, for between six months and five years
- The data showed that, on average, children wearing the company’s NaturalVue one-day multifocal contact lenses showed a 90 per cent reduction in the worsening of their nearsightedness
- 93 per cent of children showed a reduction in their nearsightedness, with 65 per cent slowing by more than 70 per cent
- Moreover, the contact lenses were shown to reduce the lengthening of children’s eyes to normal levels
- Shares in VTI are up almost three per cent this afternoon, currently worth 3.7 cents each
Eyesight specialist Visioneering Technologies (VTI) has reported positive data for its NaturalVue contact lenses used by shortsighted children.
The data was presented at the Global Myopia Symposium, which is an annual event showcasing the latest medical developments in combatting shortsightedness.
Visioneering Technologies showed data from 153 children with pediatric myopia in the United States who were monitored for between six months and five years.
The data showed that, on average, children wearing NaturalVue multifocal one-day contact lenses showed a 90 per cent reduction in the worsening of the nearsightedness.
A whopping 93 per cent of children showed that their progression in nearsightedness was slower compared to before they started wearing Visioneering Technologies’ contacts. Moreover, 65 per cent of the children showed their nearsightedness progression slowed by more than 70 per cent.
On top of all this, the contacts were shown to reduce the lengthening of the children’s’ eyes to normal levels. Eye lengthening is what causes nearsightedness.
According to VTI, nearsightedness in children has become far more prevalent on a global scale over the past four decades. The company said between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of children in many Asian countries are nearsighted, along with high percentages of children in other industrialised nations.
Importantly, blindness and other serious eye diseases are linked to nearsightedness — meaning slowing the progression of the condition as early as possible can help prevent these serious issues.
Visioneering Technologies CEO Stephen Snowdy said nearsightedness in children is more than just an inconvenience.
“It is a condition that results in higher risk of serious ocular disease over one’s lifetime, and VTI and the practitioners who contributed this data are intensely committed to fighting pediatric myopia,” Stephen said.
“The long-term effectiveness shown by this new data set for NaturalVue Multifocal is very encouraging, especially when combined with the excellent vision experienced by children wearing the lenses,” he said.
He said the company’s goal is to expand the availability of the NaturalVue contact lenses globally to minimise myopia progression in as many children as possible.
Encouragingly, there have been no reports of any adverse effects for children using NaturalVue contacts.
Shares in VTI are up a slight 2.78 per cent this afternoon, currently worth 3.7 cents each at 2:31 pm AEST.