Effectiveness of Dual-Focus Soft Contact Lenses for Axial Elongation Control in Korean Myopic Children

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of dual-focus soft contact lenses (MiSight®) in suppressing axial length elongation in Korean pediatric patients with myopia and to compare its effect with atropine eye drops and orthokeratology lenses.Methods: We reviewed the medical records of pediatric patients with myopia who had axial length measurements from November 2022 to June 2025. The study included 22 patients (36 eyes) wearing dual-focus contact lenses, 29 patients (54 eyes) using atropine eye drops, 44 patients (80 eyes) wearing orthokeratology lenses, and 21 patients (23 eyes) wearing single-vision spectacles as the control group. Statistical analysis was performed using generalized estimating equations.Results: When comparing dual-focus contact lenses with the control group, the predicted 1-year mean axial length elongation was 0.122 mm shorter than in the control group, which was statistically significant (p = 0.004). In the comparison of all treatment groups with the control group, the predicted 1-year mean axial length elongation differences were -0.120 mm for dual-focus contact lenses (p = 0.015), -0.110 mm for atropine eye drops (p = 0.044), and -0.155 mm for orthokeratology lenses (p < 0.001), all of which showed significant differences from the control group. However, there were no significant differences in axial length elongation between any pair of treatment groups.Conclusions: Dual-focus contact lenses significantly suppressed axial length elongation in Korean children with myopia. However, the effect was not significantly different from that of atropine eye drops or orthokeratology lenses.