Echothiophate Iodide for the Prevention of Progression of Myopia

This pilot study is designed to establish proof of concept of a method to either slow or stop the progression of myopia in children between the ages of 8 and 15 years by using Echothiophate Iodide eye drops to alter the relationship between focusing (accommodation), eye alignment, and peripheral blurring. Echothiophate Iodide 0.03% eye drops have been used for years for the treatment of accommodative esotropia in children. A prospective double blind randomized study of 33 children with active development of myopia will be divided into a treatment group of 22 and a control group of 11. They will be treated for 18 weeks with four planned visits at 6 week intervals. The progression of myopia will be measured by a determination of the length of the eye (axial length measured by the IOL Master) and cycloplegic refractions. Influencing factors such as corneal changes, lens changes and macular choroidal thickness will be monitored for any significance. If successful, a larger and longer study to slow the rate of myopia with echothiophate iodide will be done in order to decrease the world's incidence of myopia currently at 25-33% in western countries and 85% in Asian countries. This would also reduce the financial burden of glasses and contact lenses as well as decrease the incidence of pathological eye disease due to high myopia.