Enjoy the freedom of contact lenses
Left: before Ortho-K treatment | Right: after Ortho-K treatment
What is Orthokeratology (Ortho-K)?
Say goodbye to wearing glasses or contact lenses during the day with overnight Ortho-K.
This safe, effective, non-surgical process reshapes your cornea while you sleep. When you wake you can enjoy clear, comfortable, vision all day long!
- At less than 1/3 of the cost of laser eye surgery. Ortho-K is an affordable, safe and painless alternative to wearing glasses and contact lenses during the day.
It’s a brilliant alternative to laser surgery for people who like to play sport and find it a hassle wearing glasses or contact lenses. Or for those who work in dry or dusty environments where regular contact lenses can be difficult to tolerate. Also, Ortho-K can slow or halt the progression of myopia (short sightedness) in children.
Book an appointment with a with one of our optometrists to find out if Ortho-K could work for you.
Benefits of Orthokeratology
- Vision correction without laser surgery
- Corrects Myopia (short sight) and some Hyperopia (long sight) and astigmatism
- Safe and painless
- Effective for all ages
- More affordable than laser eye surgery
- Ideal for people who do water sports
How does Orthokeratology work?
Orthokeratology or Ortho-K involves wearing specially shaped contact lenses that gently reshape the corneal surface during sleep. Upon waking, the contact lenses are removed, and the reshaped cornea gives you clear and corrected vision. This lasts for the whole of the following day and sometimes even longer.
The reshaping effect takes about a week to reach its full effect. Although there is generally a large improvement after the first night of wear. If the contact lenses are not worn for several nights, then the elastic corneal tissue reverts back to its original shape – making the process completely reversible.
Orthokeratology is also known as Corneal Reshaping Therapy, Corneal Refractive Therapy and CRT.
Can anyone choose Orthokeratology?
Current technology caters for low to moderate prescriptions, but new contact lens designs are extending this range all the time. Depending on your original eye shape, we can offer Ortho-K for prescriptions of up to -6.00 of myopia and -1.75 dioptres of astigmatism. And it’s available to people of any age!
What’s involved in having Ortho-k?
- Preliminary testing with topography
- Lens design with lens parameters calculated, designed and ordered.
- Overnight lens assessment. this measures the eye’s response to one nights wearing of the lenses and the fit is satisfactory.
- Aftercare. Following successful initial overnight wear, multiple evaluations are required to ensure the best visual outcome and comfort. Instruction in lens insertion and cleaning is provided.
Close follow up is essential during this initial phase. A 6-month aftercare service ensures that any issues you may have are quickly resolved and that your lenses remain comfortable and effective. In some cases, the initial lenses may need to be altered a few times.
Orthokeratology – before and after
The following diagram shows the actual flattening of the front of the eye. The black circle in the middle is the pupil position. The red is the zone of maximum curvature.
This diagram shows the redistribution of curvature over the surface that causes the power change of the eye. It is this curvature change that allows us to dial up what we need. By carefully controlling the contact lens geometry we can manipulate the pressure gradients in the tearfilm underneath the lens to curve the shape to get the required change in optical prescription.
Why choose Orthokeratology?
Ortho-K is ideal for:
- The unique multi focal power zones are a proven strategy used to slow the progression of myopia
- Water Sports
- Outdoor Sports (especially in the rain!)
- Contact Lens comfort issues in the office and at the computer
- Reducing your reliance on reading glasses
At less than 1/3 of the cost of laser eye surgery, Ortho-K is an affordable, safe and painless. Its an alternative to wearing glasses and contact lenses during the day. It reversibly reshapes the shape of your cornea to give you perfect vision all day.
