Two research teams from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) found that not only did the rate of myopia progress faster in school children, but the rate of astigmatism also increased by nearly 50%, in the last two years. 

For the first time, a research team from the School of Optometry of PolyU has conducted a horizontal and vertical study on the transformation of astigmatism during online classes, and confirmed that the astigmatism rate of students increased significantly after the suspension of face-to-face classes.

Another team from the School of Optometry also analyzed the efficacy of the optical control solution developed by PolyU for the control of myopia progression in Hong Kong school children due to the suspension of classes due to the epidemic and the severe risk of myopia progression.

The "Multi-Zone Forward Optical Defocusing (DIMS)" children's spectacle lenses jointly developed by PolyU and TAG Heuer can slow down the progression of myopia by 60% under normal circumstances. 

The researchers found that even in the current high-risk environment, schoolchildren using optical defocus lenses were still up to 46% slower in nearsightedness than using traditional single vision lenses. Among them, compared with the myopia of school children affected by school suspension for a long time, the efficacy of the optical defocus lens group in slowing the progression of myopia is as high as 52%.