Continuous strain on the eye may result in various issues. This may lead to vision impairment. Myopia is a common problem that is slowly increasing its pace. There are around 1.5 billion around the world suffering from this disease.

The prevalence of myopia has significantly increased, and so is the need for treatment of the same. Conventionally, we rely on glasses and lenses to rectify the vision error, but there is another technique that will help you overcome the problem without using lenses or any surgery.

This non-surgical method or orthokeratology has become a popular way to control the progression of myopia. It is popular with other names like corneal reshaping treatment or CRT or ortho-K.

Is Treating Myopia So Important?

When it comes to our health, then most of the people tend to adopt a lackadaisical attitude towards it. But one should not undermine any health problems. When we talk about myopia, you must know that it’s not just minor error in the vision.

Rather, ignoring it, in the long run, may lead to vision-threatening eye disease. Hence, one must take proper care when they start encountering the problem. To overcome this problem, one can adopt various measures of treatment.

While using glasses and lenses may help, when it comes to orthokeratology myopia control, then the effect is remarkable. It has shown immense control in the progression of myopia which comes as good news for the person suffering from this problem.

Effectiveness Of Ortho-K Treatment

Orthokeratology myopia control is an FDA-approved method to treat myopia. As part of this treatment, a person who has myopia has to wear a specially designed lens which is highly oxygen permeable.

Unlike other lenses, people wear ortho-K lenses during the night, and you can remove them during the daytime. Wearing this lens all night leads to a corrected vision of 20/20 levels or better.

This effect lasts the entire day or in some cases several days. These are more like braces which a person has to wear in the night, but remove it during the daytime. One must wear them every night to see some remarkable changes in the vision.

Advantages Of Orthokeratology Myopia Control

  • It is an FDA-approved treatment which makes it safe and effective for people of all age group. Children are good candidates for this treatment.
  • It is a reversible treatment.
  • One can also undergo LASIK if required.
  • It allows clear vision, thereby, neglecting the need to wear glasses or lenses.
  • This is also beneficial for those who cannot wear contact lenses because of dry eye.
  • It also stops the progression of myopia, thus, helping in controlling the problem.
  • Since it’s a non-surgical process, it is much safer and comfortable for the person who doesn’t wish to undergo laser treatment or eye-surgery.

Disadvantages of Orthokeratology Myopia Control

  • After laser treatment strictly follow the instructions given by the optometrist.
  • Don’t wear the contact lenses overnight.
  • Orthokeratology lenses are small and can be lost or broken if mishandled, requiring a replacement lens to be ordered in such mishaps.
  • people have to spend more time initially for ortho-k lens fitting and follow-ups.

An important point to note about orthokeratology myopia control treatment is that it does not fall under the eye or vision insurance policies.

Conclusion

Orthokeratology myopia control is not a new technique; it takes us back to 1940s and 1960s when this technique was used by the eye doctors to overcome vision errors. The earlier method of treatment relied on gas permeable contact lenses that provisionally reshaped the cornea surface to stop myopia progression.

You must also know that apart from eye-doctor visit charges, there are some additional costs like replacement of ortho-k lenses, follow-up check-up, and lens care solutions. All these may account for $300-$500 per year.

As mentioned above, vision insurance policies don’t cover the ortho-K treatment, so you must check the cost of the entire sitting before going ahead with this therapy.

Also the eye expert needs to be competent and accredited to perform this treatment. Make sure that you do a thorough check-up before finalizing the clinic for treatment of myopia.

Author Bio:

My name is Lara Buck. A knowledgeable and qualified blogger. Here you can see my skills which gives you brief ideas about orthokeratology myopia control treatment is that it does not fall under the eye or vision insurance policies.