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Volume 3
Optometry: Open Access
ISSN: 2476-2075
Optometry 2018
October 08-09, 2018
Page 37
conference
series
.com
October 08-09, 2018 | Edinburgh, Scotland
3
rd
International Conference and Expo on
Optometry & Vision Science
David Berkow, Optom open access 2018, Volume 3
DOI: 10.4172/2476-2075-C1-007
Peripheral refraction-yes or no!
I
t is predicted that by the year 2050, half of the world's population (five billion people will be myopic and that nearly one billion will
be at a high risk of threatening ocular pathology. The first link between peripheral refraction and myopia, in humans, was found
in 1971 by Hoogerheide and his colleagues, although this issue was studied even Early by Earl Smith three using monkeys. Eye care
practitioners today must not only think in terms of the short-term effect of treatment but also more importantly, the long term effect
of the treatment. Prescribing spectacles may give an immediate positive result by enabling the child to see well but this will not stop
the short sightedness to progress. Therefore we must treat children who are myopic by trying to retard the progression of the myopia.
There are a number of treatments, two of which use contact lenses, either soft contact lenses or rigid gas permeable contact lenses.
The treatment when using contact lenses is based on defocus at the periphery of the retina. We call this treatment pattern myopia
control. This presentation will explain in detail what peripheral defocus is all about, the different types of peripheral defocus, how it
applies to the different types of contact lenses and how important this issue is as far as treating myopic children. It will explain why
and how myopic defocus can retard the increase in axial length of the eye, which is the major reason for the increase in myopia. In
conclusion, children who have been detected as having the increased potential of being myopic should be given the option of being
treated by means of myopia control in order to try to retard the progression and thus trying to avoid the child of being included in
the risk group of potentially developing any ocular pathology caused by "high myopia".
Recent Publications
1. Kang P (2018) Optical and Pharmacological strategies of myopia control. Clinical and Experimental Optometry 101 (3):32-
332.
2. Sankaridurg P (2017) Contact lenses to slow progression of myopia. Clinical and Experimental Optometry 100 (5):432-437.
David Berkow
Ulster University, UK