Abstract
Purpose :
This prospective study investigated the effect of wearing photochromic spectacles on visual symptoms and contrast sensitivity in myopic schoolchildren treated with low concentration atropine eye drops.
Methods :
Patients treated with a low concentration of atropine (0.05% or 0.1%) to control myopia progression were included. Before and after 2-months of wearing photochromic spectacles, subjects completed a prospective questionnaire assessing the frequency of six visual symptoms (photophobia, glare, halo, near blurred vision, diplopia, and fluctuating vision) associated with atropine treatment. In addition, monocular contrast sensitivity function was measured.
Results :
Forty-eight eyes of 24 schoolchildren were included. The most common reported visual symptom associated with atropine treatment was photophobia, which affected 75% of patients. All of the 6 visual symptoms were significantly improved after wearing photochromic spectacles. Photochromic spectacles significantly improved overall visual symptoms in 63% of patients. No patient reported deterioration in visual symptoms. In addition, there was no significant difference in monocular contrast sensitivity between patients wearing spectacles with nonchromatic trial lenses and the photochromic spectacles.
Conclusions :
This study demonstrated that photochromic spectacles improved visual symptoms in myopic schoolchildren treated with low concentration atropine. Photochromic spectacles did not reduce contrast sensitivity compared to nonchromatic trial spectacles.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.