What You Can Expect During an Appointment for Ortho-K Lenses

Ortho-K lenses are special contact lenses designed to be worn at night and removed in the morning, leaving you with clear vision all day. Find out if you’re a good candidate for this innovative and effective treatment.

If your eye care provider has recommended ortho-K lenses, you may have some questions about what to expect. Unlike traditional contact lenses, which are worn during the day and removed at night, ortho-K lenses are worn at night while you sleep. When you remove them in the morning, you’ll enjoy clear vision throughout the day until you re-apply your ortho-K lenses at bedtime. Here is some information on what to expect when beginning this treatment.

 

Who are ortho-K lenses for?

Ortho-K is a proven treatment for myopia (nearsightedness) in people of most ages. If your child has been diagnosed with myopia, ortho-K may be an especially valuable treatment for them because it not only corrects their vision in the short term but also helps slow the progression of myopia, leading to better vision and fewer complications as they grow up. In general, people with myopia are good candidates for ortho-K, whether they are seven or 70. People with mild to moderate astigmatism may also respond well to this treatment.

 

Initial appointment

At your first appointment, we’ll check to ensure that you are a good candidate for ortho-K lenses. We use a range of state-of-the-art technology to help us make this determination, including slit-lamp imaging, subjective and objective refraction, corneal topography, and ocular biometry. These tests and analyses allow us to ensure that your eyes are healthy, check your prescription, map the surface of your eyes so that we can design your lenses with a personalized fit, and more.

 

Follow-ups

When you receive your lenses, we’ll ensure that the fit is correct, and we’ll spend plenty of time teaching you how to apply, remove, and care for your new ortho-K lenses. We’ll check your vision the first morning after you wear your lenses, although your vision may not be corrected entirely at this appointment, so you may need someone to drive you. We’ll check how your prescription has changed and, if needed, provide disposable soft contact lenses to use while your ortho-K lenses continue reshaping your eyes. You will continue to have ongoing follow-up appointments to monitor your eyes’ progress. These appointments will be more frequent at first and less frequent as your eyes adjust; eventually, you will need only quarterly visits.

 

How long does the vision correction last?

Most patients will need to wear their ortho-K lenses every night and can expect the vision correction effect to last all day. A few patients will find that they need to wear their lenses only every other night. In addition, your vision should remain clear for as long as you continue using your ortho-K lenses. Many patients are so happy with this treatment that even when they start ortho-K as children, they continue using these lenses well into adulthood. If you do decide to stop using your ortho-K lenses, be sure to discuss this with your eye care provider so that they can monitor your eyes for possible regression.

 

How do I get started?

If you or your child has myopia and/or astigmatism and would like to be able to stop wearing eyeglasses during the day, let us know. We’ll provide a complete eye exam and discuss your options with you thoroughly, ensuring that we understand your needs and that you understand all the treatment options available to you. We’ll let you know if you are a good candidate for ortho-K lenses and, if you’d like to proceed, we’ll be happy to design a pair of lenses to fit your eyes perfectly and ensure that you know exactly how to use them and care for them for optimal results.