New contact lenses 'could halt myopia'

Scientists who have designed special contact lenses hope to make short-sightedness a thing of the past.

The custom-made lenses are intended to correct problems with focusing which eye experts blame for progressive short vision, or myopia. A team at Anglia Polytechnic University will test whether the lenses can prevent people's myopia getting worse.

Scientists hopes to be able to give myopia-prone children the lenses to wear from the age of five. This should prevent short-sightedness, or eye diseases linked with myopia, such as cataracts and glaucoma, later in life.

Nick Astbury, president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, said: "Myopia is a big problem world-wide. We welcome any research that might help in this area."