As red-light laser therapy gains popularity in Asia for slowing myopia in children, reports of vision damage have emerged, prompting a University of Houston optometry researcher to evaluate the procedure and call for further study before it becomes more widely adopted.
“Although red laser therapy is a potential intervention for myopia, its rapid clinical adoption has outpaced thorough safety validation,” reports Lisa Ostrin, UH professor of optometry, in JAMA Ophthalmology .
Ostrin’s quality improvement study found that two popular devices, EyeRising and Sky-1201, exceeded national standards for safety classifications.
“We urge eye care professionals, researchers and regulatory agencies to prioritize safety assessments of these devices, including adaptive optics retinal imaging, multi focal electroretinography, and long-term cohort monitoring, before widespread pediatric use,” said Ostrin. “Establishing a balance between therapeutic efficacy and ocular safety remains essential to ensure that this intervention intended to preserve lifelong vision does not itself pose avoidable risks that outweigh benefits.”
Emergence of red-light therapy
Clinical trials in Asia of the repeated low-level red-light therapy have reported significantly slowed myopia progression and axial elongation, which limits the eye’s lengthening, the main cause of worsening myopia, accompanied by choroidal thickening which stabilizes eye growth.
At the same time, there are reports of damage. In one case, structural retinal damage was reported in a 12-year-old patient following repeated red laser therapy with only partial visual recovery after cessation of therapy. Another report described a reduced amount of cone cells in the retina, the very cells responsible for sharp, detailed and color vision.
In both cases, the device used was The Eyerising International device which has gained regulatory approval in several countries and has been reported to have been used for more than 100,000 children for red laser therapy in China and in more than 250,000 sessions completed outside of China.
Ostrin’s quality improvement study consisted of laboratory-based evaluations of the EyeRising, Sky-n1201, Future Vision and AirDoc instruments.
“These findings suggest that laser-based red light therapy instruments deliver irradiance levels that reach ANSI safety limits within exposure times below the recommended 180-second treatment time,” Ostrin reported.
“These findings, combined with emerging clinical reports of retinal damage and recent regulatory reclassification of red laser devices as Class III in China, highlight the need for rigorous, independent safety validation before widespread pediatric use.”
Ostrin’s partner on the project is Alexander Schill, a senior research scientist at the University of Houston College of Optometry.
JAMA Ophthalmology
Safety Evaluation of 4 Red Light Therapy Devices for Myopia
5-Feb-2026