– Orthokeratology –
Would you like to see clearly without your glasses? Without surgery? If it’s a yes, then orthokeratology might be just what you are “looking” for (no pun intended!)
The History of Orthokeratology
Orthokeratology is not a modern thought; the idea has been around for centuries. When you boil it down, orthokeratology is essentially just reshaping the cornea (the clear tissue that covers the iris or coloured part of the eye) to achieve better vision. In China, more than 200 years ago, short-sighted people would sleep with sandbags over their eyes in order to temporarily flatten their corneas so that they could see clearer the next morning. Fast forward 200 years and, back in the 1960s, practitioners would fit their patients with flat-fitting rigid lenses during the day, so that the cornea was again temporarily flattened and patients could see better when they removed their lenses at the end of the day. However, with both techniques, there wasn’t a lot of consistency to the results!
Modern Orthokeratology
These days, the long-known technique of reshaping the cornea has been modernised and made far more predictable with orthokeratology contact lenses. Orthokeratology contact lenses are made out of rigid gas permeable (RGP) material and, because of the curves in the back surface of the contact lens, they create a layer of tears behind the lens that create a gentle hydraulic force against the cornea to mould it to another shape and improve your vision. You wear the lenses at night time whilst sleeping and remove after waking for clear vision throughout the day. Initially the technique was created to mould the cornea flatter and correct short-sightedness. However the technology has advanced and we can now mould the cornea to many different shapes, allowing us to correct both long-sightedness, astigmatism and even multifocal prescriptions!
If you would like to see if you are a candidate for orthokeratology lenses, please call our practice on 5532 7398 and our Eyeconic team will be able to help answer your questions and make an appointment to come in for an assessment.
