Credit FreePik

A non-Chinese study of repeated low-level red-light (RLRL) therapy in combination with ortho-k found it effective and safe for myopia control in Caucasian children in Spain, supporting the potential generalisability of the effect across diverse ethnic groups, said authors.

The study, published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, compared 12 months’ use of RLRL plus ortho-k rigid corneal orthokeratology (RCO) with ortho-k alone in children in Spain (n=26; 11 in the RCO group and 15 in the ortho-k group). Researchers found the combination treatment significantly slowed myopia progression, compared with ortho-k alone. Eighty percent of children in the RCO group achieved axial length (AL) shortening > −0.05mm, whereas no children in the ortho-k group showed AL shortening.

Looking at macular thickness, researchers found no significant difference between groups at 12 months. There were no severe adverse events reported during the study.

“This is the first set of European and fully Caucasian results of RLRL to be released and importantly echoes previous papers from China of combination RLRL plus ortho-k use, in terms of efficacy, safety profile and high treatment compliance [median 71%]”, said co-author Dr Yuri Aung, director of clinical and regulatory strategy at Australian medtech company Eyerising International.