In my experience, I met many patients with difficulty using contact lenses in dynamic activities such as dancing, sports like football, basket, riding, etc. especially when dry eyes make ordinary contact lenses uncomfortable or when it is necessary to wear contact lenses for too many hours to cover life needs and the above mentioned activities too (dancing at night after a long day means that you have to wear your contact lenses for a great amount of hours). In some "contact" sports may be easier to lose one contact lens (so not to have them in the eye is a great advantage), in others may be useful to wear sunglasses on top (if a lens or both go dry, vision may be deteriorated and if you are riding may be dangerous). Sometimes it is only a good thing not to have contact lenses in the eyes, in this way there are no problems of dryness, of discomfort, to lose one lens, etc. especially for children where care of things is not in the first place. Other times is absolutely not advised to have contact lenses in the eyes, for example swimming or diving. Even wearing ordinary sunglasses (especially if with special curvature or not possible to have with prescription) is better if vision if good naturally, without any prescription.
Orthokeratology is a good option we can offer to our patients.
Orthokeratology is a non-invasive and reversible technique used in optometry for reshaping the corneal surface reducing or eliminating myopia. By changing the curvature of the cornea and increasing the radius of curvature, it reduces the refractive power determining, in this way, a reduction of short-sightness. The lenses are worn during sleep, temporarily change the shape of the cornea and gently, without permanently, altering its physiology.
Orthokeratology contact lenses are used fitting them at night while you are sleeping. During the night the lenses reshape the cornea removing the visual defect.
On waking up you simply remove the lenses after having instilled a few drops of lubricating eye-drops (to facilitate removal and avoid stress to the cornea) and the vision will be optimal for the whole day without using glasses, or ordinary contact lenses.
Orthokeratology is technologically advanced method to reshape the cornea during sleeping time.
On waking-up you remove the lens and you can face the day without using of any type of correction.
It is a proven, safety and efficacy method. The treatment is temporary and therefore reversible.
If you pass a few days or a week (time to be determined case by case) without wearing the lenses, the cornea will resume its initial state.
Not everyone is eligible for orthokeratology. These lenses are therapeutic, designed for people with myopia up to 6.00 diopters and with astigmatism up to 1.75 diopters. There are other limitations that will assess your Optometrist to determine if your case will be successful with this technique.
The only age restriction is for children younger than 12 for this method is very effective in controlling the progression myopia in children aged 12 and older. Most of the patients showed a rapid improvement since the first few days and reach optimal viewing within 7-14 days. It's also possible to see with the lenses worn (which is often useful during the first days of treatment when wearing glasses or lenses used before become too strong) or if you need to get up during the night.
The lenses should be disinfected after each use, usually in the morning after removal, with the usual disinfection systems used for gas permeable contact lenses.
To know if your situation falls within the visual range of applications and is treatable with orthokeratology you should contact the Optometrist of your area.
Only Optometrists who successfully pass the certification test CRTs have the ability, as defined by FDA regulations, to apply the Corneal Refractive Therapy contact lenses.
After a preliminary visit you will know whether or not you will undergo Corneal Refractive Therapy. In fact, not only must be within a certain range of myopic and astigmatic powers, but you must also have healthy eyes, a pupil diameter suitable, and a corneal curvature compatible with such lenses.
In this video we can see how an hypothetical lens
Paragon CRT fitted to the eye of a wearer. With each blink, the lens undergoes
a little movement and the alignment remains almost unchanged. The little bubble
present in the ring of fluorescein (a substance that allows the tears to color in
yellow-green and become in this way much more visible) can be avoided during
the application. During the night the lens mold the cornea and
at wake-up will be enough to remove the lens to get a perfect vision
without using any help (glasses or contact lenses).
The importance of an accurate fitting is essential and with the video that follow you may have
an idea of how the lens works.
The RZD can be changed by your Optometrist so that the support
and the centring of the optical zone (the area that will touch the cornea in its central part)
is optimal. It is important to properly assess the support
of the lens so that it is adequate
maintaining a central optimal bearing (zone therapy) and an optimal centring of the lens.
The LZA must allow an optimal centring of the lens and contributes to
give a proper sagittal depth. Your Optometrist can
act on this important parameter to personalize the lens
that will be fitted on your eyes.
