Spectacle correction may affect refractive progression in children with unilateral myopic anisometropia: A retrospective study

Abstract Objective To investigate the effect of spectacle correction on refractive progression in children with unilateral myopic anisometropia (UMA). Methods In this retrospective study, 153 children with UMA (aged 8–12 years) were recruited and classified into an uncorrected (UC) group ( n = 47) and a spectacle (SP) group ( n = 106). The spherical equivalent refraction (SER) of the myopic eyes ranged from −0.75 to −4.00 D; the SER of the emmetropic eyes ranged from +1.00 to −0.25 D; anisometropia was ≥1.00 D and the follow‐up duration was 1 year. Nineteen subjects from the SP group with follow‐up records spanning at least 6 months before and after wearing spectacles were selected as a subgroup. Changes in the SER and axial length (AL), the degree of anisometropia and interocular AL differences of the two groups and the subgroup were analysed. Results During the 1‐year follow‐up period, AL and SER changes in myopic eyes were significantly greater than those in emmetropic eyes in the UC group ( p < 0.001). For the UC group, the degree of anisometropia and AL change increased (all p < 0.001). For the SP group, there were no significant differences in the degree of anisometropia or AL change (all p > 0.05). When comparing the groups, AL elongation of the myopic eyes in the UC group occurred significantly faster than in the SP group ( p = 0.02), and AL elongation for the emmetropic eyes in the UC group occurred significantly slower than in the SP group ( p = 0.04). For the subgroup, the AL and SER changes in the myopic eyes 6 months before wearing spectacles occurred significantly faster than those after correction ( p < 0.001). Conclusions Spectacle correction could prevent increased anisometropia in uncorrected children with UMA by slowing myopia progression in the myopic eyes and accelerating the myopic shift in the contralateral eye.