Electroretinographic evaluation of single vision contact lenses with non-refractive opaque features

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Electroretinography provides insights into how optical interventions, e.g., contact lenses (CLs), may influence retinal function. Understanding acute retinal responses is important for the ongoing development of myopia control strategies. BACKGROUND: To investigate the acute effects of single-vision (test) soft CLs incorporating non-refractive opaque elements on retinal function. These lenses are designed to modulate retinal ganglion cell activity through Active Reconfiguration in Retinal Encoding of Spatio-Temporal signalling with a potential for myopia control. METHODS: In a randomised, contralateral-eye study, 30 participants (18 to 25 years; refractive error: 0.00D to -5.50D) wore single-vision test and control CLs. Electroretinograms were recorded at baseline, 10, and 40 minutes using red flash stimuli (38 Troland-seconds at 3.8 Hz) on a blue background (380 Trolands). Time-amplitude and Discrete Wavelet Transform analyses quantified changes in retinal response. Metrics included a-wave and b-wave peak times and amplitudes, Photopic Negative Response (PhNR) amplitude and timing, P-ratio, W-ratio, and OFF/ON pathway coefficients. RESULTS: = 0.02). . CONCLUSION: Non-refractive opaque features within an otherwise single-vision CL can induce short-term changes in retinal signalling, characterised by temporal shifts in post-receptoral signalling, potentially suggesting pathway-specific modulation of inner retinal circuits. Additional studies are needed to confirm the preliminary findings to facilitate insights into the retinal mechanism of action with such interventions.