Positive results have been reported from a study using both optical coherence tomography (OCT) and full-field electroretinogram (ffERG) testing to evaluate the efficacy and safety of repeated low-level red-light (RLRL) therapy for controlling myopia progression over three years among Chinese myopic children and adolescents.

Published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology,1 the multicentre real-world study included 362 children and adolescents aged 7–18 years being treated for myopia with RLRL in three hospitals from 1 June 2018 to 1 June 2023. Ninety participants were treated for half to a year, 91 for one to two years, and 90 for two to three years. A further 91 participants had been using RLRL for over three years.

All participants voluntarily received RLRL therapy twice daily for a minimum three-minute session, at intervals of four or more hours, and five to seven days a week.

The study showed that RLRL therapy maintains myopia control efficacy over three years among myopic children and adolescents, with 72.5% of children achieving satisfactory axial elongation control (annual axial elongation ≤0.10 mm).

Although the myopia control effect declined slightly after the first two years, it remained clinically meaningful. No subjective visual function loss was detected by best-corrected visual acuity, and objective ffERG parameters showed no treatment duration-related changes.

OCT identified four eyes that had reversible linear discontinuity of their ellipsoid zone in the outer photoreceptor segment, in line with cases previously in the literature.

Reference available at mivision.com.au.