A Chinese study has found that highly aspherical lenslet target (HALT) spectacle lenses – used for myopia control – may also be effective in preventing myopia.

The study, published in Clinical and Experimental Optometry,1 aimed to examine the effectiveness of plano HALT lenses (Essilor Stellest, EssilorLuxottica) in slowing axial elongation and spherical equivalent refraction (SER) progression in non-myopic children.

Using data from Chinese medical records, the retrospective study included 105 non-myopic Chinese children, aged between four and nine years.

Study authors said only a few interventions – namely, prolonged outdoor exposure, low dose atropine and repeated low-level red-light therapy – have been tested in myopia prevention trials.

“Given that behavioural and pharmaceutical interventions have been used for myopia prevention, myopia control optical interventions may have a role to play in myopia prevention, particularly myopia control spectacle lenses, which are non-invasive and relatively safe,” study authors wrote.

AXIAL LENGTH SLOWDOWN

The authors concluded that among children aged four to nine years who are at risk of myopia, plano HALT spectacle lenses were effective in slowing axial elongation by approximately +0.31 mm/year.

“Compared with the mean annualised pretreatment axial length change of +0.44 mm/year, a significant slowdown in axial length change after wearing plano HALT spectacle lenses was observed with a mean difference in annualised axial length change over time of -0.31 mm/year (95% CI, -0.35 to -0.27; p < 0.001),” study authors reported.

As well, they observed “clinically significant” axial length shortening (<-0.05 mm) in five children (4.8%) fitted with plano HALT spectacle lenses over the one-year period.

The greatest reduction in annualised axial length change was seen in children who wore their HALT lenses for at least six hours per day.

“In comparison to low-dose atropine and red-light therapy, plano HALT spectacle lenses showed greater reduction in axial elongation at 0.31 mm/year and SER progression at 0.42D/year in this study.

“However, this study did not perform SER measurements under cycloplegia, unlike these previous trials, which may limit direct comparisons of SER changes. Nonetheless, the results confirm that plano HALT spectacle lenses can be a viable and safe option for controlling axial elongation and potentially delay myopia onset among children at risk of myopia.”

The efficacy of HALT spectacle lenses in reducing axial elongation has been established previously in low-hyperopic children and myopic children, the authors noted.

Reference

1. Wang L, Wong YL, Drobe B, Wang X. Effectiveness of spectacle lenses with highly aspherical lenslets in slowing axial elongation among non-myopic children. Clin Exp Optom. 2025 May 22:1-7. doi: 10.1080/08164622.2025.2502527.