Violet Light Exposure Can Be a Preventive Strategy Against Myopia Progression
Hidemasa Torii,
Toshihide Kurihara,
Yuko Seko,
Kazuno Negishi,
Kazuhiko Ohnuma,
Takaaki Inaba,
Motoko Kawashima,
Xiaoyan Jiang,
Shinichiro Kondo,
Maki Miyauchi,
Yukihiro Miwa,
Yusaku Katada,
Kiwako Mori,
Keiichi Kato,
Kinya Tsubota,
Hiroshi Goto,
Mayumi Oda,
Megumi Hatori,
Kazuo Tsubota
Affiliations
Hidemasa Torii
Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Toshihide Kurihara
Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Yuko Seko
Visual Functions Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Sensory Functions, Research Institute, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa-shi, Saitama 359-8555, Japan
Kazuno Negishi
Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Kazuhiko Ohnuma
Center for Frontier Medical Engineering, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
Takaaki Inaba
Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Motoko Kawashima
Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Xiaoyan Jiang
Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Shinichiro Kondo
Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Maki Miyauchi
Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Yukihiro Miwa
Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Yusaku Katada
Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Kiwako Mori
Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Keiichi Kato
Kato Eye Center, 2-8-10, Yoshioka-higashi, Taiwa-cho, Kurokawa-gun, Miyagi 981-3627, Japan
Kinya Tsubota
Laboratory of Photobiology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Hiroshi Goto
Department of Ophthalmology, Tokyo Medical University, 6-7-1 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023, Japan
Mayumi Oda
Department of Systems Medicine, The Mitsunada Sakaguchi Laboratory, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Megumi Hatori
Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Kazuo Tsubota
Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Prevalence of myopia is increasing worldwide. Outdoor activity is one of the most important environmental factors for myopia control. Here we show that violet light (VL, 360–400 nm wavelength) suppresses myopia progression. First, we confirmed that VL suppressed the axial length (AL) elongation in the chick myopia model. Expression microarray analyses revealed that myopia suppressive gene EGR1 was upregulated by VL exposure. VL exposure induced significantly higher upregulation of EGR1 in chick chorioretinal tissues than blue light under the same conditions. Next, we conducted clinical research retrospectively to compare the AL elongation among myopic children who wore eyeglasses (VL blocked) and two types of contact lenses (partially VL blocked and VL transmitting). The data showed the VL transmitting contact lenses suppressed myopia progression most. These results suggest that VL is one of the important outdoor environmental factors for myopia control. Since VL is apt to be excluded from our modern society due to the excessive UV protection, VL exposure can be a preventive strategy against myopia progression.
