According to a recent survey of Canadian parents, over 70% of them are unaware of myopia – or nearsightedness – and its impact on their children’s educational success.

Identifying the need to improve that awareness, Essilor® is launching “Eyes on the Future,” a national campaign across Canada to encourage parents to protect their children’s eyesight by educating and driving action to book eye exams with independent ECPs for their children and give eye care professionals the resources to better diagnose and slow down myopia progression and other eye conditions.

Almost half of those surveyed also did not identify their child’s need for corrective lenses until the child is already struggling. It is estimated that by 2050, half of the world population is predicted to be myopic. 

“As a world leader in vision care, it is Essilor’s responsibility to play a leading role in the fight against myopia, and it’s apparent that many parents across Canada are unfortunately unaware of the impact that myopia can have on children,” said Nicola Courtemanche, Vice President, Optical, Independents, EssilorLuxottica Canada. “With myopia cases among children increasing, eye exams done at an earlier age are critical to identifying issues and treating early to reduce myopia’s impact on children’s futures. That’s why we’re invested to ensure parents make seeing an eye care professional for their children a top priority.”

The “Eyes on the Future” consumer campaign speaks directly to Canadian parents through a variety of multimedia platforms with celebrity influencers and key opinion leaders sharing stories of the families and children impacted by myopia. The campaign has the opportunity to reach over 13.5 million media impressions. Parents will learn that catching myopia early is key and highlight the positive difference eye care professionals can play in their children’s life, with treatments to correct their vision and slow the progression of myopia, specifically with the new Essilor® Stellest® lenses.

“When we saw that more than 81% of parents surveyed have brought their child to the dentist within the past year, but only 52% have taken them to the eye doctor in the same timeframe, this makes our “Eyes on the Future” campaign so much more important,” said Bordeleau-Tassile.

Essilor® is committed to supporting eye care professionals in the continued fight against myopia. A productivity incentive for Essilor® Stellest® is now available, starting August 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023, independent eye care professionals will have the opportunity to earn rebates as they increase their sales of Essilor® Stellest® lenses.

For more details and information, independent eye care professionals are encouraged to speak with their Essilor® Business Consultants. Support materials are also available, including in-depth educational content on the innovative lens through the Leonardo learning platform.

Essilor® Leading with Innovative Eye Solutions for Myopia

Essilor® launched a new lens in Canada in early 2022 called Essilor® Stellest®, which has been proven to slow down myopia progression by 67% on average, compared to single vision lenses when worn 12 hours a day.

The efficacy of the Essilor® Stellest® lenses has been further bolstered by the four-year clinical trial results of Essilor’s myopia control innovation Essilor® Stellest® lens, which were presented at the ARVO annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, in April 2023.

The findings show that Essilor® Stellest® lenses continue to exhibit strong efficacy in slowing myopia progression and axial eye elongation in children in the fourth year. The new data follows the recent publication of the three-year clinical trial findings in the medical journal American Journal of Ophthalmology, which also highlights evidence of continued myopia control efficacy of the lens in slowing down myopia progression in children over three years. The link to the article can be found here.

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SightGlass Vision reported positive four-year outcomes from its pivotal CYPRESS study extension, which is evaluating the myopia control performance of the company’s Diffusion Optics Technology^™ (DOT 0.2) spectacle lenses. The lenses use thousands of light scattering elements called dots, designed to mimic more natural contrast on the retina—a unique mechanism of action to slow myopia progression in children.

The findings are being presented at the 27^th Congress of the Chinese Ophthalmological Society (CCOS), held in Changsha, Hunan Province. Thousands of eye care clinicians, researchers, and educators from across China and overseas attend the biennial event.

Control of Myopia using Diffusion Optics Technology Spectacle Lenses: Efficacy and Safety Study (CYPRESS) 4 Year Results (Zhu X, McParland M, et al) affirmed DOT 0.2 safety and efficacy in children aged 6–10 at the study’s initiation. Part two of the study—designed to collect 12 additional months of data—re-enrolled 98 participants from the original three-year, double-masked, randomized, multi-site clinical trial.

Full four-year outcomes showed statistically significant slowing of axial length progression and cycloplegic spherical equivalent refraction (cSER), with the most recent data underscoring strong DOT 0.2 performance. During the 36- to 48-month timeframe, axial length mean change was 0.13 ±0.02 mm for the test group (n=55) and 0.18 ±0.02 mm for the control (n=41; p=0.038). cSER mean change was -0.25 ±0.04 D for the test group and -0.38 ±0.05 D for control (p=0.043).

“The CYPRESS four-year findings confirm the demonstrated efficacy, safety, and overall performance of Diffusion Optics Technology™ spectacle lenses,” said Andrew Sedgwick, CEO of SightGlass Vision. “Eye care professionals worldwide are demanding this level of scientific rigor, allowing them to confidently recommend the lenses to children and their caregivers. SightGlass Vision is proud to advance the myopia control category with our latest research and technologies, and enthusiastic about growing opportunities for spectacles in a child’s treatment regimen.”

A separate presentation at CCOS explored the theoretical basis and practical application of DOT lenses. Discussion of DOT Lenses Based on Contrast Reduction Theory and Real-World Case Sharing (Wang D, Xie P, Huang J) analyzed the influence of contrast in children’s refractive development, the interaction between contrast signals and peripheral defocus signals, and the clinical performance of DOT lenses based on contrast reduction. Comparing existing studies with clinical observations of 117 Chinese children wearing DOT 0.2 lenses for 1 year, investigators concluded that contrast management delayed myopia progression, and that the lenses were effective and safe.

Over the last two years, SightGlass Vision’s patent-protected technology with clinically proven efficacy made its commercial debut in several markets, including China, the Netherlands, and Israel, as well as through preliminary market trials in other countries. The company operates as a joint venture of CooperCompanies and EssilorLuxottica.

For more information, visit SightGlassVision.com.

Click HERE for the full press release.

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