A Two-Year U.S. Trial Just Put Hard Numbers on Myopia Control Glasses. Here’s What They Mean for Las Vegas Kids.

For years, the most common question we hear from parents about myopia control glasses has been some version of: “Do they actually work, or is this just expensive eyewear?” It’s a fair question. Most of the evidence came from studies run in Asia, and a reasonable parent in Spring Valley or Henderson could wonder whether those results carry over to their own child.

As of this summer, that question has a U.S. answer.

On August 20, 2026, JAMA Ophthalmology published a randomized clinical trial of children at nine sites across the United States. The children who wore spectacle lenses with highly aspherical lenslets (the design used in Stellest lenses) progressed 71% less over two years than children in ordinary single-vision glasses, and their eyes grew 53% less. For those of us who fit these lenses in Las Vegas every week, it’s the study we’ve been waiting to hand to parents.

What the Study Actually Did

This wasn’t a survey or a chart review. It was a double-masked randomized trial, the same design used to test medications: 159 children ages 6 to 12 were assigned by chance to either the myopia control lens or a standard single-vision lens, and neither the families nor the examiners knew which lens each child had. Starting prescriptions ranged from -0.75 to -4.50 diopters, which covers most of the newly nearsighted kids who walk into our office.

Every child wore their glasses as everyday eyewear, was measured at regular intervals, and 135 of them (85%) completed the full 24 months. The trial is designed to run three years; this paper reports the two-year mark.

A note on who paid for it: the study was funded by Essilor, the company that makes the lens. That’s typical for a trial submitted to the FDA, and it’s why the double-masked design and the publication in a peer-reviewed journal matter. The reviewers were not on the company’s payroll, and the examiners didn’t know which lens they were measuring.

The Numbers, in Plain English

Two things were tracked. The first is the one every parent knows: the prescription. The second is the one most parents have never been told about, and we’ll get to it in a moment.

Prescription change over two years:

• Standard single-vision lenses: worsened by an average of 0.90 diopters
• Myopia control lenses: worsened by an average of 0.25 diopters

That’s a difference of 0.64 diopters, or about 71% less progression. To put it in real terms: over two years, the average child in the control group went from, say, -2.00 to nearly -3.00. The average child in the treatment group barely moved.

Eye growth over two years:

• Standard lenses: eyes lengthened by an average of 0.45 mm
• Myopia control lenses: eyes lengthened by an average of 0.21 mm

That’s 53% less elongation. It’s a smaller percentage than the prescription number, and it’s the number we care about more. If you want the underlying literature on why, we keep a running review of the scientific research on myopia management.

Why the Second Number Matters More Than the First

Myopia progresses because the eyeball physically lengthens from front to back. That measurement is called axial length, and unlike a prescription, it doesn’t shrink back. Whatever length your child’s eye reaches by the end of adolescence is the length it carries for life, and longer eyes carry measurably higher lifetime risk of retinal detachment, glaucoma, cataracts, and myopic macular degeneration.

Glasses correct what elongation does to vision. They do nothing to the elongation itself. A lens that slows the eye’s growth by half over two years is doing something ordinary glasses never could, and the fact that this trial measured axial length directly, rather than inferring it from the prescription, is a large part of why it’s persuasive.

We measure axial length at every myopia visit at Insight Vision Optometry, Las Vegas, for exactly this reason. It tells us whether a treatment is working months before the prescription would. If you’re curious how that plays out appointment by appointment, we’ve mapped out what a myopia management timeline actually looks like.

The Younger the Child, the Bigger the Effect

This is the part of the paper we’d underline for parents of kindergarteners and second graders.

When the researchers broke the results down by age, the youngest group had the strongest response by a wide margin:

• Ages 6 to 8: about 87% less progression than the control group (a difference of just over one full diopter in two years)
• Ages 9 to 10: about 63% less progression
• Ages 11 to 12: about 75% less progression

Younger children are the ones whose eyes are growing fastest, so they have the most to lose from doing nothing and the most to gain from starting early. A six-year-old who is already -1.00 is not a “wait and see” case. It’s worth evaluating your child’s risk through family history and lifestyle together as soon as the first prescription shows up, not after the third.

What the Study Doesn’t Tell Us Yet

We’d rather be straight with you about the limits than oversell a result we’re genuinely glad to see.

• It’s a two-year result. Myopia management usually runs until the mid-to-late teens. The trial is designed to run three years, and the full three-year results haven’t been published yet. Longer follow-up will tell us whether the effect holds.
• Higher prescriptions were excluded. Children beyond -4.50 diopters weren’t enrolled, so the paper can’t speak directly to them. In our experience those children often need a combination approach anyway.
• These are averages. Some children in the treatment group progressed more than 0.25 diopters, and some progressed less. That variability is why we monitor rather than assume.

None of that undercuts the result. It just means the lens is a tool, not a guarantee, and the right way to use a tool is to measure whether it’s working for the child in front of you.

Which Glasses Were These?

The lenses in the trial use a design called highly aspherical lenslets, or HAL: a clear central zone your child looks through, surrounded by rings of tiny lenslets that change how light lands on the peripheral retina. That peripheral signal is what tells the eye to slow its growth. To the child, and to anyone looking at them, they’re ordinary glasses.

This is the technology inside Stellest myopia control lenses, and this paper is the first peer-reviewed publication of the U.S. trial that supported the FDA’s authorization of Stellest in September 2025, the first spectacle lens the FDA cleared specifically for slowing myopia progression in children. If you’d like a deeper comparison of how these lenses differ from what’s in a standard pair, we’ve written about myopia control glasses versus single-vision lenses.

Safety, for the record: none of the children in either group had a serious adverse event, and none of the eye-related events were attributed to the lenses.

Glasses, Contacts, or Drops? How We Decide

The trial answers “do the glasses work?” It doesn’t answer “are the glasses the right choice for my child?” That depends on age, prescription, how fast the numbers are moving, whether your child can handle a contact lens responsibly, and what your family will realistically still be doing in eighteen months.

At Insight Vision Optometry, Las Vegas, our myopia management program includes:

• Stellest myopia control spectacle lenses: the lens design from this study. Often the first choice for younger children, for families who want to start with glasses, and for kids who aren’t ready for contacts.
• Orthokeratology (ortho-k): custom lenses worn overnight that reshape the cornea while your child sleeps, so nothing is in the eye at school, at practice, or in the pool. We fit Paragon CRT, WAVE, and Euclid designs because corneas differ and one geometry doesn’t suit every child.
• MiSight 1 day soft contact lenses: FDA-approved daily disposables designed to slow myopia progression.
• Low-dose atropine eye drops: on their own, or layered onto glasses or contacts when a child keeps progressing on one treatment alone.
• Combination therapy for faster progressors, and axial length measurement throughout so we’re tracking the eye, not just the prescription.

If you want to think through the trade-offs before you come in, our myopia management FAQ covers most of what parents ask us in the exam room, and we’ve laid out how the main options compare.

The Doctors Who Run Our Myopia Program

Our team has spent years in this specific corner of eye care, and it shows in how we read a study like this one.

Dr. Stephanie Woo, OD, FAAO, FSLS, our founder, is cornea and contact lens residency trained with extensive orthokeratology and myopia control experience. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and the Scleral Lens Society, a past President of the Scleral Lens Education Society, an Adjunct Professor at Midwestern University College of Optometry, and was named Nevada Optometric Association Educator of the Year in 2023.

Dr. Thanh Mai, OD, FSLS serves as Vice President of Clinical Innovation at Treehouse Eyes and speaks nationally on childhood myopia, with published work in Review of Myopia Management and a faculty appointment at Marshall B. Ketchum University.

Dr. Nathan Schramm, OD, FAAO, FSLS, FBCLA is a Fellow of the Scleral Lens Education Society, one of roughly 300 worldwide, and a Fellow of the British Contact Lens Association, with advisory board roles in the myopia space and long experience in orthokeratology.

Is Your Child a Candidate?

Book a myopia evaluation if any of these describe your child:

• They’re between 6 and 12 and just got their first prescription for nearsightedness
• The prescription went up between one exam and the next
• One or both parents are nearsighted
• They squint at the board, sit close to the TV, or hold a phone unusually near
• They’re already in myopia control glasses from another office and nobody has measured their axial length

That last one comes up more than it should. A child can be wearing the right lens and still be progressing, and without an eye-length measurement there’s no way to know. A comprehensive eye exam is where it starts either way.

What This Comes Down To

• A double-masked U.S. trial published in JAMA Ophthalmology in August 2026 followed 159 children ages 6 to 12 at nine sites for two years.
• Myopia control glasses with highly aspherical lenslets slowed prescription progression by 71% and eye growth by 53% compared to standard glasses.
• The youngest children, ages 6 to 8, responded best, with about 87% less progression.
• Axial length, not the prescription, is what carries lifetime risk. This trial measured it directly, and so do we.
• Two years of data is a strong start, not the final word. The right lens still has to be monitored for the child wearing it.
• Glasses are one option among several. Ortho-k, MiSight 1 day, low-dose atropine, and combination therapy are all on the table, and the choice depends on the child.

Book a Myopia Evaluation in Las Vegas

Insight Vision Optometry, Las Vegas sees pediatric patients ages 3 and up. We’re at Southern Hills Hospital in southwest Las Vegas, about 15 minutes from Harry Reid International Airport, and we see families from Spring Valley, Enterprise, Henderson, and Paradise.

We accept EyeMed and VSP, take FSA and HSA funds, and offer CareCredit financing. Spanish-speaking staff are available, and same-day appointments are often possible.

If your child is newly nearsighted, the two years this study measured are the same two years you have right now. Use them.

Office Details and Appointments

Insight Vision Optometry, Las Vegas
9260 W Sunset Rd, Suite 209, Las Vegas, NV 89148
702-747-4070
Request an appointment

Source: Shen J, Hunt C, Young G, Drobe B. Spectacle Lenses With Highly Aspherical Lenslets for Myopia Control: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Ophthalmology. Published online August 20, 2026. Read the study