How Myopia and Orthokeratology Works
After months of not being able to see clearly, and squinting my way through the school day to copy notes, I was able to finally see clearly when I received my first pair of glasses in third grade. But every few months, I had to talk to my parents over and over again, begging them to make me a new appointment because my vision was getting worse like most people who had the same problem as me. I had myopia, and it was not getting any better by the time I was in high school. I wore big black round glasses that my mother hated so much. In eleventh grade, after making a new appointment, my optometrist offered a new treatment for my eyes called Orthokeratology. This treatment was supposed to decrease the rate of myopia and allow me to see without wearing any contacts or glasses throughout the day. My mother was thrilled to get rid of my glasses. But what is Orthokeratology?
The idea of Orthokeratology, night lenses, started around the 1990’s, when people began to believe that technology was advanced enough to help doctors create a lens that could correct the vision overnight. Orthokeratology were glass permeable contact lenses, night lenses that would reshape the cornea throughout the night. In the morning, when it was time to go about the person’s day, they would take off the contact and the person would be able to see throughout the day. This treatment allow for it control myopia as well, by compressing the eye and fighting against the rate at which the eye is growing.
What exactly is myopia? According to the National Eye Institute, myopia is well known as nearsightedness, meaning people have very good close vision, but very bad distance vision. This is because the eyeball gets really long from front to back. It can also be a result from a problem in the cornea, the eye’s outmost layer, because it can be too curved and thick for the light to go through.
Some doctors like to explain it by saying that it’s a layer on top of your eye that keeps getting thicker as myopia increases. Imagine using your camera and focusing on something. Now imagine putting one piece of tape over the camera lens–the image would be getting blurry. That’s how myopia is like and it gets worse when you continue putting more pieces of tape over the lens until you aren’t able to see.
[Diagram from National Art Institute]
Myopia most common treatment was corrective lenses, like glasses or soft contact lenses. For years people have used one of the two option to go with myopia, but they kept getting new glasses after they realized that their myopia kept increasing since it was not in control.
How does this treatment control myopia? The glass permeable contact lens is laid on top of the cornea and it begins to push down on it, clearing your vision immediately. The prescription need for your eye is changed into the amount of pressure needed to help your eye during the night. Since the contact puts that pressure, it holds the eyes to be that same size, or for the cornea to stay in that same shape. Usually, for it to be stayed in the specific shape for the entire day, optometrists recommend to sleep for at least 7 hours, so the contact could work through it all and give better results. The contact lenses are working against the myopia to prevent it from getting worse. This treatment is quite big on the price side, considering it’s between $700 to $1500 for the treatment and contacts.
In most cases, orthokeratology was deemed successful among patients, especially among young adults who don’t feel comfortable wearing contacts or glasses. Since the contact lens isn’t soft, the person wearing these hard contact lenses can somewhat feel the contact in their eye. Although nothing bad will happen if the contacts are worn with open eyes, doing so will cause slight discomfort, as if there were an eyelash. It’s very important to keep them safe and in proper hygiene, using the contact lens solutions the optometrists give you. This will avoid any eye infections or bacteria from getting into your eyes. The contact fits comfortably on the eye, and it’s goal is to control myopia, so after the treatment and fitting of the contact lenses is complete, it’s not necessary to make regular appointments. Yearly importantes are important to make the contact is still well, clean and undamaged to keep wearing until a new contact lens needs to be purchased to wear.
Although these contact lens are well designed, optometrists have noticed that there are some health risks that come with these contact lenses. According to some cases, children below the age of 12 have had problems with the treatment. These eventually caused controversy among doctors and orthokeratology because they believed the lenses aren’t safe. Most cases that turned out negative as a result of them have caused health risking eye infections, with one young boy almost losing his sight.
Optometrists later explain that this is due to the lack of hygiene that the kids have with the contact lenses, and that they are not old enough to be going through orthokeratology. Adults going through the treatment also confirmed that the contact lenses did not do any harm to them, and their myopia has been controlled.
This kind of contact has greatly impacted the world of optometry, as something was created to help prevent an common eye disorder among people around the globe. Although this treatment isn’t well known among people with myopia, doctors are beginning to recommend this to adults and teenagers that are somewhat old enough to be able to take care of such delicate and important contacts. This will allow for more advances in science and optometry. This will also allow for people to have another option if they are not comfortable wearing glasses or contacts throughout the day. It’s a simple and safe change to any person who isn’t seeing well, and it will allow for their eyes to not get worse in the future.
