Safal Khanal, OD, PhD, FAAO, was awarded a two-year R21 grant from the National Eye Institute to evaluate the efficacy of a novel, wavelength-based method in slowing the progression of myopia (nearsightedness) in children.
According to Khanal, a UAB School of Optometry assistant professor, traditional myopia management strategies like single-vision glasses and contact lenses, and refractive surgeries can correct blurry vision optically. However, they do little to prevent myopia from worsening over time—due to their limited ability to slow axial elongation of the eye—placing people at higher risk for conditions like retinal detachments and vision loss and increasing the public health burden of visual impairment and blindness due to myopia and related complications.
“Treatments to slow axial elongation of the myopic eye and reduce myopia-related risks later in life are an urgent clinical need,” he said. “Incorporating these treatments in the clinical care of patients with myopia has significant individual, societal, and public health benefits.”
Societal benefits include reduced burden of visual impairment and blindness, improved quality of life, decreased strain on the public eye health system, improved academic performance, increased career choices, and alleviation of economic consequences such as loss of productivity and substantial costs of correcting and managing myopia.
The increasing global prevalence of myopia underscores the need for more effective treatment options. Khanal indicated that 42 percent of children in the United States and up to 90 percent of children in some East Asian regions are myopic. “According to the recent projected estimates released in 2023, if the current trend continues, approximately 40 percent of the global population will suffer from myopia by 2050,” he said.
At UAB Optometry, Katherine K. Weise, OD, MBA, FAAO, Timothy J. Gawne, PhD, FAAO, and Thomas T. Norton, PhD, FAAO, will collaborate with Khanal on this groundbreaking, and potentially impactful, clinical trial.
“Drs. Weise, Gawne, and Norton bring decades of experience in both clinical and basic myopia research to this project, and their expertise will be invaluable as we attempt to translate some of our pre-clinical discoveries made in-house at UAB to clinical investigations of treatment strategies that, if successful, will provide a new paradigm shift in myopia management and significantly improve patient care,” he said.
The Sicari Somers Foundation provides supplemental funding for the project, while Performance Vision Technologies offers material support.
The clinical trial is open to children with nearsightedness ages 8-12. If you think a child might qualify for the study, email Khanal at
To learn more about this and other myopia research projects at Khanal’s lab, please visit https://sites.uab.edu/skhanal/.