Photobiomodulation Therapy: The Dawn of Myopia Control

As the prevalence of myopia, or near-sightedness, continues to rise globally, it becomes imperative to determine the mechanisms driving myopia so that appropriate interventions to mitigate it can be developed. Light appears to be critical for normal ocular development, and over the past several decades research has explored the connection between light exposure and myopia development. This review explores the growing field of photobiomodulation, or the use of light to modulate biological processes, to prevent myopia development. To complete this review, relevant texts published from January 1990 to December 2025 were retrieved from the PubMed database using a combination of search terms covering myopia and ocular development, light exposure conditions related to myopia, myopia development in relation to circadian and diurnal regulation, nonvisual opsins and myopia, and light-induced ocular damage. Through this review, we see that photobiomodulation offers a potential intervention to control myopia progression, but the mechanisms behind light's influence on ocular development remain complex and incompletely understood. This review aims to summarize what is currently known to serve as a basis for future research and to delineate important findings.