A feasibility trial in the United Kingdom has explored the advantages of very young infants at high risk of cerebral visual impairment wearing near vision glasses.
Published in BMJ Open,1 the Babies in Glasses trial involved 55 babies who were either born before 29 weeks’ gestation or born at term with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy.
The study is the first to attempt to correct near vision in young infants.
The researchers divided infants into three groups. One group started wearing near vision glasses at the corrected age of eight weeks; another group at the corrected age of 16 weeks; and a third group did not wear glasses. Twenty-eight babies completed the trial.
… infants who have experienced a perinatal or neonatal brain injury are at even greater risk of impaired accommodation, making early intervention particularly important in this group
Of those babies wearing glasses, the median wear time in both groups was around two hours per day.
“Early infancy is a critical period for visual development, during which typically developing infants already have limited ability to accommodate. While this coincides with a period of poor accommodation in typically developing infants, infants who have experienced a perinatal or neonatal brain injury are at even greater risk of impaired accommodation, making early intervention particularly important in this group,” study authors wrote.
The researchers found that babies who received glasses at eight weeks corrected age experienced the greatest improvements in visual acuity over the six-month study period.
“Those receiving glasses at eight weeks post term demonstrated, on average, a greater improvement in visual acuity and were more likely to develop object permanence, an important developmental stage in vision and cognitive development; for instance, it might promote motor skills such as reaching,” the study authors concluded.
Study authors said the trial “provides evidence that the prescription of near vision glasses to young infants at risk of perinatal brain insults is feasible and that outcomes may be enhanced compared with no glasses or when glasses are prescribed at eight weeks post-term rather than at 16 weeks”.
The researchers are now planning a larger randomised controlled trial involving infants born before 29 weeks, and offering glasses at
the corrected age of eight weeks.
Reference
- Bullaj R, Dyet L, Bowman R, et al. Can provision of near vision glasses as an early intervention improve visual outcomes in infants at risk of perinatal brain insult? The Babies in Glasses (BiG) randomised feasibility trial. BMJ Open. 2026;16:e107894. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-107894.