Atropine use for the prevention of myopia progression

Abstract

Given the prevalence of myopic refraction (from 50 to 84% in Asian countries and 35 to 49% in European countries and the United States in young people), the development of methods for monitoring and preventing myopia continues to be an urgent task. One of the directions of pharmacological intervention on the progression of myopia is associated with the use of a non-selective M-cholinoreceptors antagonist — atropine. The review presents the results of studies on various aspects of the potential for topical application of atropine to control the progression of myopia (experimental and clinical data on the mechanism of action, the effectiveness of clinical use, the possible side effects of various concentrations of the drug).The heterogeneity of the data presented does not yet lead to the conclusion that the long-term instillations of atropine are effective in prevention of progressive myopia. In addition, the wide application of this method, for example, in the territory of the Russian Federation, is limited by approved official instruction for the local application of the atropine solution in ophthalmology.