Eye health resource
5 Eye Care Trends Worth Knowing in 2026
Eye care keeps changing. Here are five trends shaping patient care in 2026, including myopia management, retinal imaging and OCT, AI-assisted technology, specialty contact lenses, and more individualized dry-eye care.
Reviewed for accuracy by Justin Bazan, OD on .
Eye care changes quickly, but not every new device or treatment matters equally to patients. This article was originally published in 2022. We refreshed it in 2026 because several of the ideas that were “new” then have matured, while others were tied to product launches or the COVID era and no longer deserve headline status.
Here are five developments that are more useful to understand now.
1. Myopia management is moving beyond simply prescribing stronger glasses
Myopia, or nearsightedness, can progress as a child grows. Ordinary glasses and contact lenses can make distance vision clear, but myopia management is different: its goal is to slow progression over time.
The evidence base has expanded substantially. The International Myopia Institute’s 2025 intervention review describes evidence for approaches including orthokeratology (Ortho-K), specially designed soft contact lenses, atropine, and newer spectacle-lens designs. No single option is best for every child, and treatment should be individualized and monitored.
At Park Slope Eye, current myopia-management options include:
- Ortho-K lenses worn overnight;
- low-dose atropine eye drops when appropriate; and
- appropriate soft multifocal or myopia-control contact lenses.
Newer myopia-control spectacle designs are part of the broader field, but this article should not be read as a claim that Park Slope Eye currently offers every myopia-control technology on the market. We also do not currently offer axial-length measurement.
Learn more about myopia management and Ortho-K at Park Slope Eye.
2. Retinal imaging and OCT are giving doctors more detailed structural information
Eye doctors have long examined the retina, but imaging now provides increasingly useful documentation and structural detail. Optical coherence tomography, or OCT, uses light to create cross-sectional images of the retina and optic nerve. The National Eye Institute has described OCT as a technology that has transformed ocular health care and continues to gain new applications.
At Park Slope Eye, Optos wide-angle retinal photography can capture a broad image of the inside of the eye, while the Topcon Maestro OCT can provide cross-sectional information that a photograph alone cannot show. We use testing when it can answer a useful clinical question rather than automatically performing every possible test on every patient.
Nearly all of our patients choose Optos retinal imaging during routine care, and it often provides the retinal view and documentation we need without dilating drops. Dilation is still recommended when symptoms, risk factors, or examination findings make it clinically necessary.
Learn more about comprehensive eye exams and retinal imaging.
3. Artificial intelligence is increasingly being built into eye-care technology
Artificial intelligence in medicine is no longer just a research concept. The FDA maintains a list of AI-enabled medical devices, including ophthalmic software designed to analyze retinal images for specific screening tasks.
That does not mean an AI system replaces a comprehensive eye examination or a clinician’s judgment. An algorithm may be designed for one narrow purpose, while an eye doctor has to consider symptoms, medical history, vision, examination findings, imaging, and the patient’s individual situation together.
Park Slope Eye does not market an autonomous AI diagnostic service. When we use retinal photography, OCT, or other testing, the information is interpreted in the context of the patient’s eye examination.
4. Contact lenses are becoming more specialized rather than simply “one size fits all”
Contact-lens development is about much more than new daily-disposable product launches. Lens designs now address a wider range of prescriptions, corneal shapes, visual goals, and clinical needs.
Depending on the patient, options may include:
- toric lenses for astigmatism;
- multifocal or monovision designs for near and distance needs;
- scleral lenses for selected complex corneal or fitting situations;
- corneal GP/RGP lenses;
- Ortho-K lenses worn overnight; and
- soft lenses designed for myopia management.
The important trend is more individualized fitting. A contact lens is a medical device, so comfort, movement, corneal health, tear film, prescription, lifestyle, and realistic wear habits all matter.
Park Slope Eye fits a broad range of contact lenses and works with patients who have straightforward as well as harder-to-fit needs. Learn more about contact lens exams and fittings.
5. Dry-eye care is becoming more individualized
“Dry eye” is not one identical problem in every patient. Symptoms can involve tear evaporation, eyelid and meibomian-gland function, inflammation, contact-lens wear, medications, environment, or several factors at once. That is why treatment increasingly focuses on identifying the likely contributors instead of assuming one product will work for everyone.
The broader eye-care field includes office-based technologies such as thermal pulsation and intense pulsed light (IPL) for selected patients. Those options were emphasized in the original 2022 version of this article, but Park Slope Eye does not currently offer in-office procedural dry-eye treatments, so we do not present them as services available here.
Current dry-eye care at Park Slope Eye may include, when appropriate:
- over-the-counter artificial tears;
- eyelid hygiene and cleansers;
- prescription eye drops; and
- punctal plugs.
The useful trend is not chasing the newest machine. It is matching treatment to the patient’s symptoms, examination findings, and likely cause. Learn more about dry-eye care at Park Slope Eye.
What these trends mean for patients
New technology is most useful when it solves a real problem. A better question than “Does the office have the newest device?” is: Will this test, lens, medication, or treatment meaningfully improve my diagnosis, comfort, vision, or long-term eye health?
That is the standard we try to use at Park Slope Eye: explain what a test or treatment is for, use it when it can add useful information, and refer to an appropriate specialist when care falls outside our scope.
Sources used for this 2026 update
- International Myopia Institute — Interventions for Controlling Myopia Onset and Progression 2025
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration — Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Medical Devices
- National Eye Institute — Optical Coherence Tomography: Transformative Impact on Eye Care
- American Academy of Ophthalmology EyeWiki — Meibomian Gland Dysfunction
Originally published . Substantially updated .