Myopia Control
OrthoK offers the first reasonable alternative to increasingnearsightedness (myopia) and has the potential to actually control the associated loss of vision for the first time. |
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Why is Myopia a problem?
Nearsightedness (myopia) is a problem where distance vision becomes blurry, most often sometime during the early school years. This blur creates difficulties with school work and other activities such as sports where far vision is important. The common solution of wearing glasses or contact lenses is temporary as most children will get worse each year, resulting in more blur and thicker lenses.
Increased levels of myopia also create increased risks for other eye diseases such as glaucoma and detached retinas. Approximately 25% of the adult population in the United States is myopic and the rate is much higher in some ethnic groups.
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Myopia: What can be done?
Preliminary results of multi-year testing show that OrthoK corrects nearsightedness and, in addition, actually prevents children from becoming more nearsighted.
This is fantastic news because it means that if you fit a child at a low level of nearsightedness and they stop wearing the lenses years later, the eyes will return to where they were when originally fit, not to where they would have been with years of no specialized OrthoK treatment. A twenty year old ends up with the vision they had when they were ten. This is an amazing finding and is supported by research showing that OrthoK type corrections are able to actually control the shape and length of the eyeball.
There are no guarantees in health care. Individuals and results will vary. But doctors are finding patient after patient who are not becoming more nearsighted. The potential benefits to those individuals are profound.
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Myopia: Do other methods of control work?
Because the science behind myopia development has only recently been determined, many unsupported claims of prevention or cures developed over the years. Various techniques have been advocated, varying everywhere from rubbing the eyes, staring at the sun, wearing bifocal glasses, avoiding reading and eye exercises. Some of these ideas are dangerous or blinding and all of them fail to help a great majority of those trying them.
OrthoK works and it works very well. There is only one other proven technique: the use of a specific prescription eye drop that paralyzes eye muscles, making the person unable to read without glasses, unable to tolerate bright light and prone to significant side effects from the drops themselves.
OrthoK is the only proven, reasonable method to significantly alter the progression of myopia. Overnight treatment. Daytime freedom.
We have a sister web site that talks about all the methods of myopia prevention. Follow the link for extensive coverage of everything from ortho-k to medications that have been used or are being used in an attempt to slow myopia.
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