Essilor, a global major in prescription lenses, on Wednesday announced that it has launched Essilor Stellest lens in India, to combat myopia progression in children.
According to the lens maker, the Stellest lens has been designed with an exclusive technology called Highly Aspherical Lenslet Target (HALT) by Essilor’s research and development teams.
Myopia is a common vision condition in which near objects appear clear, but objects farther away look blurry. Treatment options include glasses, contact lenses and surgery such as LASIK.
“The H.A.L.T. technology consists of a constellation of 1021 aspherical lenslets spread on 11 rings, enabling the Essilor Stellest lens to correct myopia and sharpen far vision through a single vision zone while slowing down myopia progression. The technology is a culmination of more than 30 years of academic studies, product design, rigorous research efforts in collaboration with the top research institutes and myopia experts,” the company said on Wednesday.
The company claims that clinical trial results show that the lens slowed down myopia progression by 67 percent on average, compared to single vision lenses, when worn 12 hours a day.
“The launch of Essilor Stellest lenses will provide a new revolution for eye care professionals to help correct vision and fight myopia progression in children. With more than 30 years of R&D experience in Myopia Management, we are committed to provide the best solution which requires innovation and awareness of the importance of preventing and slowing down myopia progression in children. These lenses provide an evidence-based spectacle lens solution – we know that this solution has been long awaited and we are confident that Essilor Stellest will be a game changer in the Indian market,” Narasimhan Narayanan, Country Head, Essilor Luxottica South Asia, said in a statement.
In India, ophthalmologists and eye care professionals across the country are witnessing an increasingly larger number of children walking into their practice with either higher levels of myopia when tested for the first time or with increasing margins in their existing prescriptions.
Studies show that any level of myopia may increase the risk of ocular conditions, but the risk increases exponentially once reaching high myopia. Failure to manage myopic progression significantly impacts a child’s productivity due to an increased risk of ophthalmic conditions such as Myopic Maculopathy, Retinal Detachment, Open Angle Glaucoma and Visual Impairment.
The two-year clinical trial results of the lenses were recently published in the JAMA Ophthalmology journal.
“Essilor Stellest lenses may be prescribed to a child with progressive myopia only after checking the myopia risk factors and conducting the appropriate tests needed to establish whether the child will benefit from this lens,” it stated.
The price of the lens is Rs. 16500 excluding tax, the company informed.