What does optics teach us about myopia?

Brian Vohnsen
Advanced Optical Imaging Group, School of Physics, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland

A proud County Mayo man, a passionate advocate of optics, and most of all a warm-hearted, caring and kind person with students, colleagues, family, and friends. Such was Prof. Seán (John) Sheridan, an amazing colleague and friend with whom I shared many memorable moments in University College Dublin (UCD) over the past 15 years. Although we were in different departments, he in Engineering and I in Physics, we were always closely connected in our research and teaching. He always went the extra mile to help students, take part in outreach, to meet up to discuss science and for a friendly chat and a healthy laugher. Eight years before me, in 2000, Seán had arrived to UCD from Dublin Institute of Technology (now Technological University Dublin), with a very strong optics background having worked with scientists such as Colin Sheppard and William Rhodes. Seán was keen on applying optics to real-world problems and with an entrepreneurial spirit he explored commercial opportunities. A decade ago, he became interested in the optics of the eye, and more particular the optics of the animal eye, when he got involved with horse breading and a spin-out company Equilume on the development of a blue-light mask that alters the breeding season for horses. He also co-developed a highly sensitive device to measure ocular movement as indicator of brainstem activity. He was familiar with my own work on vision and photoreceptors, and some of our last communications were on the topic of myopia. We had agreed to meet up with the CTO of Equilume, Dr Barbara Murphy, to discuss related matters in November 2022. This was just after I had returned from a conference trip to Recife, Brazil, and he had recovered from a recent and successful eye-squint surgery. Seán also had high myopia and aimed for cataract surgery by the end of the year with the hope of improving his eyesight. Sadly, just one-week later Seán passed away unexpectedly before we got the chance to meet again. In this contribution, I will review some of my optics background, and activities, that I shared with Seán, and discuss in some depth what optics may teach us about myopia. © Anita Publications. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Holography, Fourier optics, Sensing, Myopia, Photoreceptors, Vision, Optica, SPIE

Peer Review Information
Method: Single- anonymous; Screened for Plagiarism? Yes
Buy this Article in Print © Anita Publications. All rights reserve

References

1. Bozhevolnyi S I, Vohnsen B, Near-field optical holography, Phys Rev Lett, 77(1996)3351–3354.
2. Vohnsen B, Bozhevolnyi S I, Holographic approach to phase conjugation of optical near fields, J Opt Soc Am A, 14(1997)1491–1499.
3. Flitcroft D I, The complex interactions of retinal, optical and environmental factors in myopia aetiology, Prog Ret Eye Res, 31(2012)622–660.
4. Holden B A, Fricke T R, Wilson D A, Jong M, Naidoo K S, Sankaridurg P, Wong T Y, Naduvilath T J, Resnikoff S, Global prevalence of myopia and high myopia and temporal trends from 2000 through 2050. Ophthalmology, 123(2016)1036–1042.
5. de Jong P T V M, Myopia: its historical contexts, Br J Ophthalmol, 102(2018)1021–1027.
6. Jones L A, Mitchell G L, Mutti D O, Hayes J R, Moeschberger M L, Zadnik K, Comparison of ocular component growth curves among refractive error groups in children, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 46(2005)2317–2327.
7. Yuodelis C, Hendrickson A, A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the human fovea during development, Vis Res, 26(1986)847–855.
8. Carmichael Martins A, Vohnsen B, Analysing the impact of myopia on the Stiles-Crawford effect of the first kind using a digital micromirror device, Ophthal Physiol Opt, 38(2018)273–280.
9. Choi S S, Garner L F, Enoch J M, The relationship between the Stiles-Crawford effect of the first kind (SCE-I) and myopia, Ophthal Physiol Opt, 23(2003)465–472.
10. Wallman J, Gottlieb M D, Rajaram V, Fugate-Wentzek L A, Local retinal regions control local eye growth and myopia, Science, 237(1987)73–77.
11. Ashby R S, Schaeffel F, The effect of bright light on lens compensation in chicks, Ophthalmol, Vis Sci, 51 (2010)5247–5253.
12. Dolgin E, The myopia boom, Nature, 519(2015)276–278.
13. Sharmin N, Vohnsen B, Monocular accommodation response to random defocus changes induced by a tuneable lens, Vis Res, 165(2019)45–53.
14. Vohnsen B, Directional sensitivity of the retina: A layered scattering model of outer-segment photoreceptor pigments, Biomed Opt Exp, 5(2014)1569–1587.
15. Hornbeak D M, Young T L, Myopia Genetics: A Review of Current Research and Emerging Trends, Curr Opin Ophthalmol, 20(2009)356–362.
16. Zhang X, Qu X, Zhou X, Association between parental myopia and the risk of myopia in a child, Exp Ther Med, 9(2015)2420–2428.
17. Huang H.-M, Chang D S.-T, Wu P.-C, The Association between Near Work Activities and Myopia in Children—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, PLoS ONE, 10(2015)0140419; doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140419.
18. Zhou X, Pardue M T, Iuvone P M, Qu J, Dopamine Signaling and Myopia Development: What Are the Key Challenges, Prog Retin Eye Res, 61(2017)60–71.
19. Vohnsen B, Geometrical scaling of the developing eye and photoreceptors and a possible relation to emmetropization and myopia, Vision Res, 189(2021)46–53.
20. Rozema J, Dankert S, Iribarren R, Emmetropization and non-myopic eye growth, Surv Ophthalmol, (2023); doi.org/10.1016/j.survophthal.2023.02.002.
21. Li Q, Fang F, Contribution of the retinal contour to the peripheral optics of human eye, Vis Res, 198(2022)108055; doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2022.108055.
22. Flitcroft D I, Harb E N, Wildsoet C F, The Spatial Frequency Content of Urban and Indoor Environments as a Potential Risk Factor for Myopia Development, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 61(2020)42; doi. org/10.1167/iovs.61.11.42.
23. Read S A, Fuss J A, Vincent S J, Collins M J, Alonso-Caneiro D, Choroidal changes in human myopia: Insights from optical coherence tomography imaging, Clin Exp Opt, 102(2019)270–285.
24. van Rens G H M B, Arkell S M, Refractive errors and axial length among Alaskan Eskimos, Acta Ophthalmol, 69(1991)27–32.
25. Bullimore M A, Richdale K, Myopia Control 2020: Where are we and where are we heading?, Ophthalmol Physiol Opt, 40(2020)254–270.
26. Wu P.-C, Chuang M.-N, Choi J, Chen H, Wu G, Ohno-Matsui K, Jonas J B, Cheung C M G, Update in myopia and treatment strategy of atropine use in myopia control, Eye, 33(2019)3–13.
27. Kaymak H, Fricke A, Mauritz Y, Löwinger A, Klabe K, Breyer D, Lagenbucher A, Seitz B, Schaeffel F, Short-term effects of low-concentration atropine eye drops on pupil size and accommodation in young adult subjects, Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol, 256(2018)2211–2217.
28. Khanal S, Rathod S N, Phillips J R, The acute effect of atropine eye drops on the human full-field electroretinogram, Doc Ophthalmol, 142(2021)315–328.
29. Cho P, Cheung S W, Edwards M, The longitudinal orthokeratology research in children (LORIC) in Hong Kong: a pilot study on refractive changes and myopic control, Curr Eye Res, 30(2005)71–80.
30. Erdinest N, London N, Lavy I, Berkow D, Landau D, Morad Y, Levinger N, Peripheral Defocus and Myopia Management: A Mini-Review, Korean J Ophthalmol, 37(2023)70–81.
31. Torii H, Kurihara T, Seko Y, Negishi K, Ohnuma K, Takaaki I, Kawashima M, Jiang X, Kondo S, Miyauchi M, Miwa Y, Katada Y, Mori K, Kato K, Tsubota K, Goto H, Oda M, Hatori M, Tsubota K, Violet Light Exposure Can Be a Preventive Strategy Against Myopia Progression, eBioMedicine, 15(2017)210–219.
32. Jiang Y, Zhu Z, X. Tan X, Kong X, Zhong H, Zhang J, Xiong R, Yuan Y, Zeng J, Morgan I G, He M, Effect of Repeated Low-Level Red-Light Therapy for Myopia Control in Children: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial, Ophthalmology, 129(2022)509–519.
33. Lam C S Y, Tang W C, Qi H, Radhakrishnan H, Hasegawa K, To C H, Charman W N, Effect of Defocus Incorporated Multiple Segments Spectacle Lens Wear on Visual Function in Myopic Chinese Children, Transl Vis Sci Technol, 9(2020)11; doi.org/10.1167/tvst.9.9.11.
34. Rappon J, Chung C, Young G, Hunt C, Neitz J, Neitz M, Chalberg T, Control of myopia using diffusion optics spectacle lenses: 12-month results of a randomised controlled, efficacy and safety study (CYPRESS), Br J Ophthalmol, (2022); doi:10.1136/bjophthalmol-2021-321005.
35. Swiatczak B, Schaeffel F, Myopia: why the retina stops inhibiting eye growth, Sci Rep, 12(2022)21704: doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-26323-7.
36. Walsh C M, Prendergast R L, Sheridan J T, Murphy B A, Blue light from light-emitting diodes directed at a single eye elicits a dose-dependent suppression of melatonin in horses, Vet Jour, 19 (2013)231–235.
37. Ryle J P, Vohnsen B, Sheridan J T, Simultaneous drift, microsaccades, and ocular microtremor measurement from a single noncontact far-field optical sensor, J Biomed Opt, 20(2015)027004; doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.20.2.027004.