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Updated: Jun 6, 2026
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Binocular Dynamic Visual Acuity in Eyeglass-Corrected Myopic Patients
Published on: March 29, 2022
Contact lenses vs spectacles in myopes: is there any difference in accommodative and binocular function?
Raimundo Jiménez1, Loreto Martínez-Almeida, Carlos Salas
1Departamento de Óptica, Facultad de Ciencias, C/ Campus Fuentenueva, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain. raimundo@ugr.es
Summary
Soft contact lenses (SCL) may lead to poorer accommodative and vergence function compared to spectacles. This study found higher accommodative lags and more esophoric near vision with SCL, potentially impacting myopia progression.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Optometry
- Vision Science
Background:
- Theoretical differences exist in accommodative and vergence demands between single-vision contact lenses and spectacle lenses.
- Clinical practice may reveal these differences in visual parameters.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if differences in accommodative and vergence demands exist between soft contact lenses (SCL) and spectacles in clinical practice.
- To evaluate visual parameters related to accommodation and binocular function in myopic students wearing SCL versus spectacles.
Main Methods:
- 30 myopic students (mean age 19 ± 2.4 years) who habitually wore contact lenses and spectacles participated.
- Key visual parameters, including accommodation amplitude, facility, response, and various binocular vision tests, were measured twice.
- Standard clinical measurement methods were used, with three trials averaged per parameter. Student's t-test was applied for statistical analysis.
Main Results:
- Statistically significant differences were observed with SCL compared to spectacles.
- Higher accommodative lags, increased negative relative accommodation, more esophoric near horizontal dissociated phoria, and reduced negative fusional vergence in near vision were found with SCL.
Conclusions:
- A trend towards poorer accommodative and vergence function was observed with SCL compared to glasses.
- Higher accommodative lags with SCL may suggest temporal accommodation insufficiency, potentially leading to over-accommodation and esophoria.
- Prolonged SCL wear during near tasks could induce hyperopic retinal defocus, a known risk factor for myopia progression.
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