Myopia or nearsightedness is a common condition among children and teens. Fortunately, you can slow down its progression in your child by starting treatment early. One of the recommended treatments is orthokeratology (ortho-k), a treatment in which your kid wears gas-permeable contact lenses at night to reshape their cornea.
What should you expect while your kid is undergoing ortho-k treatment?
An optometrist will first check your kid’s eyes to see if they’re a good candidate for ortho-k therapy. If they are, a doctor might map their cornea using a computer-imaging tool. Kids and teens who are nearsighted with a low level of or no astigmatism are often the best candidates for ortho-k therapy.
Ortho-k lenses are gas permeable so they allow oxygen to reach the cornea, in a sense, allowing the eyes to breathe even with the eyelids shut. Before wearing these lenses, your kid will need to use lubricating eye drops before placing them on their cornea. It’ll take some time to get used to wearing lenses overnight, but within a few days, your kids should be used to the sensation.
Your kid shouldn’t remove the lenses immediately after waking up. They’ll need to use the eye drops again and wait 10 minutes before removing the lenses using the tool given by the optometrist. Don’t worry though – using the tool is easy and painless. Your kid will also need to see your eye doctor again after the first time they wear ortho-k lenses. If you’re having trouble removing them, your eye doctor can help them out.
Over time, the ortho-k lenses slowly reshape the cornea, improving your child ‘s vision. However, this also means the prescription for the ortho-k lenses can change as your child’s eyesight improves. That’s why it’s important to schedule follow-up appointments with one of your local eye doctors over the following weeks.
Insight Vision Center Optometry offers a wide range of professional eye care services. To schedule an appointment with one of our optometrists, you can call us at (714) 486-3315, or fill our our form here. We serve homeowners in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, CA, as well as the surrounding communities.
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