A real reason for hope for the French who suffer from this ametropia. In recent years, several manufacturers have developed new types of lenses, called brake lenses, which have the ability to slow the development of myopia and reduce its main symptom: clear near vision, but blurred distance vision.
Corrective lenses, which are mainly used, are aimed at projecting a central ray of light exactly on the retina. For their part, braking glasses, equipped with thousands of microlenses, act to slow down the elongation of the eye, which is at the origin of myopia.
“It allows you to correct your nearsightedness, to have clear vision at all distances,” explains Marie-Christine Silva, optician in charge of training and medical relations at the BFMTV microphone.
Almost one in two French
According to the latest Barometer of myopia in France, carried out in 2022 by Ipsos for Together against myopia, 43% of French people over the age of 18 declare that they have a visual impairment.
A figure that, according to a January 2022 study carried out by the Fondation Adolphe de Rothschild hospital, will continue to increase in the coming years. Thanks to overexposure to screens, these works estimate that by 2050 half of the country’s population will be affected.
unknown long-term effects
From a medical point of view, brake glasses are hopeful in the short term. “The two types of lenses that we use slow down the axial length of myopes by between 60 and 65%. Today is the first time that we have a system that is very positive and gives us hope”, explains Professor Claude Speeg-Schatz, president of the French Ophthalmology Society, with BFMTV.
At the same time, several studies also underscore these positive results, but point to an obvious lack of data regarding long-term effects.
“We do not know, when the prescription stops, how myopia will evolve. Will there be a rebound effect and a recovery from this myopia? Will it stabilize? We also raised the question of how long it is necessary to prescribe these myopia-stopping glasses”, further points out Professor Speeg-Schatz.
Regarding the price, compared to a conventional corrective lens, an additional cost of 70 to 100 euros has been identified. Per unit, you have to pay around 180 euros per glass to benefit from this new advance.
Source: BFM TV
