Orthokeratology (“Ortho K”) Treatments
in New Westminster
Vision Correction: An Alternative To Laser Surgery
Orthokeratology (also known as “Ortho-K”) is a non-surgical method of correcting vision, primarily used to treat myopia (nearsightedness) and sometimes other refractive errors like astigmatism. The treatment involves wearing specially designed gas-permeable contact lenses overnight, which reshape the cornea, the clear front surface of the eye, to temporarily improve vision during the day.
How Ortho K Works
The specially designed Ortho-K lenses gently flatten the center of the cornea overnight while you sleep. This reshaping reduces the focusing power of the cornea and improves how light is focused on the retina, effectively correcting refractive errors like myopia. The effects are temporary, so lenses need to be worn regularly to maintain the vision correction.
Who Can Benefit?
Who Can Benefit:
People with mild to moderate myopia (nearsightedness) can see visible benefits from Ortho K, as well as those with low levels of astigmatism. Childre and teenages get Ortho K to help manage and treat the progression of myopia. If you are not a candidate for LASIK, then you should look into Orthokeratology treatment instead!
Ortho K: Safe As Contact Lenses
Ortho K is as safe as contact lenses. Why spend thousands of dollars to permanently burn layers or cut layers off of your cornea as with Laser and Lasik eye surgery? These types of eye surgeries have very real health risks associated with them. Ortho-K is the safer choice, without the risk of infections and/or permanent scar tissue on your Cornea.
Benefits of Treatment
Non-surgical: Unlike LASIK, Ortho-K does not involve any surgery or cutting of the eye.
No daytime lenses: After wearing the lenses overnight, many users can experience clear vision throughout the day without the need for glasses or contact lenses.
Reversible: If a patient stops wearing the lenses, the cornea gradually returns to its original shape, and the refractive error will come back.
No need for eye drops or solutions during the day like with traditional contact lenses.
Helps in controlling myopia progression: Ortho-K has been shown to slow down the progression of myopia, especially in children.
Great for Kids & Sports
Ortho K can help children and athletes in very special ways! For kids, it can prevent their vision from getting worse – or at least slow down the process. For athletes, it enables you to have perfect vision – WITHOUT EYEGLASSES or CONTACT LENSES !
Think of the cornea as the eye’s equivalent of a watch crystal. It is a clear, dome shaped structure that overlies the colored iris. Its tissue is most similar to clear, wet skin; and like skin it is very pliable. Because the cornea separates the eye from air and the rest of the outside world and because it has a curvature that bends light towards the back of the eye, it is responsible for most of the eye’s corrective power and contributes to various conditions such as nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), and the blur of astigmatism.
When you choose Ortho-k a few key tests must be performed. Chief among these tests is the determination that your eyes are healthy. The Orthokeratologist will examine the retina and also the health of the outside of the eye. The other key procedure is the mapping of your cornea. To do this an instrument called a Topographer is used. Just like a topographical map of a camping area show hills, plains, and valleys; the topography of the eye shows your doctor exactly how your cornea is shaped. The information from your corneal mapping plus the size of your cornea and the prescription needed to correct your vision are all used to design the retainer lenses (corneal molds) needed to create the Ortho-k effect.
Read More About Ortho K Treatment
