Apr.13th, at the press conference, Prof. Ge Jian, Director of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, professor of State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and "973" program's chief scientist, announced that, myopia control study for youngsters of china has gained new progress, that the development of new lenses by Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center will help youngsters who are nearsighted, to delay the deterioration of their eyesight, thus allowing them to have clear vision.

According to the source, there are hundreds of millions of myopia in china, and studies show that the rate is increasing. Led by Prof. Ge Jian, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center has,, since 2007, worked with Australia New South Wales University of Brien Holden Vision Research Institute and the University of Houston College of Optometry in efforts to study the development of myopia mechanism through the design of optical theory, construction of animal model, and clinical trials, etc in order to explore new methods for myopia control. Findings from animal studies reveal that peripheral retinal defocus could affect the growth of the eyeball. Correcting merely the central vision of myopia and ignoring the peripheral vision will result in the elongation of the eyeball , which will enhance the degree of myopia. Therefore, the international research team has co-developed lenses of novel design, which will not only cure the central vision of the myopia youth with accuracy but will also, , with the edge design of the lenses, correct the the hyperopic retinal defocus surrounding the retina, thus effectively control the degree of growth. The clinical studies of young people in Guangzhou had shown that not only will this special designed lenses provide teenagers with clear vision, it will also help defer about 30 percent of myopia from increasing . At present, the making of the lens has been authorized to the German company Carl Zeiss optics, and the lenseswill be in the market this year.