Soft Contact Lens Wear Appears Safe for Pediatric Myopia Control

New data presented at ARVO 2026 suggest soft contact lenses used for pediatric myopia control are associated with low rates of microbial keratitis and corneal infiltrative events (pictured above), particularly in children 12 years and younger, supporting their safety profile in younger patients. Photo: Jeffrey Sonsino, OD. Click image to enlarge. As the use of soft contact lenses (SCL) becomes more common in the fight against myopia in children, it’s important to understand the potential risks involved. Researchers recently conducted a systematic review that investigated the incidence of microbial keratitis (MK) and corneal infiltrative events (CIEs) associated with pediatric SCL wear. They shared their results at last week’s ARVO 2026 meeting in Denver.The study included publications from the Medline and Embase databases between 1995 and 2024, amounting to 28 that met all inclusion criteria. Article selection, risk of bias assessment and data extraction were undertaken by two independent investigators. Relevant data collected includes lens exposure time and safety outcomes of reports of MK and CIE. Exposure-adjusted event rates (EAERs, per 10,000 patient years) of contact lens-related or possibly related MK and CIEs were calculated based on a Poisson distribution for the overall cohort and the subgroup. CIEs included both clinically significant and non-significant cases.According to the findings, for SCL wearers <18 years, publications reported 8,915.6 patient-years from 4,831 wearers for MK and 8,669.6 patient-years from 4,721 wearers for CIEs. The ≤12 years subgroup contributed 5,060.6 patient-years from 2,008 wearers for both outcomes. There were six cases of MK in wearers <18 years (EAER: 6.73), of which three cases were in those ≤12 years (EAER: 5.93). None resulted in reported vision loss. A total of 189 CIEs were reported in wearers <18 years (EAER: 218) and 61 in wearers ≤12 years (EAER: 120.54).The researchers concluded that the incidence of MK and CIEs in children wearing SCLs appears low, with even lower CIE rates in those ≤12 years, which is the primary target age range for myopia control. They stated that, compared to adults, pediatric rates seem similar for MK and lower for CIEs, and said these findings support the potential use of SCLs in children.Original abstract ©2026 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.Click here for the source. Nyarko Nti A, et al. The safety of soft contact lens wear in children – A systematic review. ARVO 2026 annual meeting. This article was developed by the editorial staff in conjunction with experts in the field. In the process, AI may have been among the editorial tools used to meet the goals of human editors, who approved all content.