What effect does looking at red light have on the eye in children and young people? – A proof-of-concept study

Short-sightedness now starts at a younger age and worsens faster than in the past. Many people are at risk of permanently losing their eyesight in middle-age because of short-sightedness. Research in China has shown that looking at a low-level red laser light twice daily for 3 minutes can dramatically slow down short-sightedness in children. We do not know whether it would have the same effect on children here, and whether families would use it. We have red-light glasses which are safe to use; adults who wish to maintain good eyesight can buy them over the internet. Red-light treatment improves the blood flow at the back of the eye, in a layer called “choroid”, which can be measured on eye-scans. We have done a study with healthy adults, which showed that red-light is safe and gently improves the blood flow at the back of the eye. In adults, this has no effect on myopia, because their eyes are fully grown. In children, red-light will slow down myopia, and in this project, we want to find out which level of red-light is needed to have this effect. We will ask 24 children age 5-12 years to use red-light glasses for three minutes twice a day for three months. There will be 4 groups of children, and each group will get goggles with a different level of brightness. We will measure the eye length and the thickness of the choroid at the start and 1 and 3 months later and compare the change in eye length between the different groups. In practice, children will need to use the treatment for several years. We will use the results of this study to prepare a longer study with more children.