 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Rose Vision Development Optometric Center,Inc. 1299 E. Pennsylvania Ave., Suite B 
Escondido, CA 92027-3020
760-743-6540
Email
|
|
ORTHO-K: Accelerated Orthokeratology Contact Lens Therapy: A Safe Alternative To LASIK Surgery No More Glasses Can you imagine the joy of waking up in the morning and not having to wear glasses or contact lenses during the day? It would free you up for a host of activities that you may otherwise avoid because of your need to wear glasses or contact lenses. There is a revolutionary non-surgical contact lens treatment that improves your natural vision in a matter of hours - days - weeks. Your nearsightedness and astigmatism may improve dramatically the next day after your first fitting with the new Ortho-K therapy. 
This new medical method is called Ortho-K, and it works. The Ortho-K procedure is achieved in a unique way. With the wearing of specially designed contact lenses, which have been custom designed to gently change the shape of your cornea - the front curvature of your eye - that will safely and gently improve your vision.This marvelous new method of vision improvement is accomplished by applying a series of accelerated contact lenses most often worn over a period of weeks or several moths to attain better vision. Ortho-K is safe, effective and best of all non-surgical. One very pleased patient wrote: "What a great way to improve vision without surgery. I wore my Ortho-K lenses for a week and what a difference it has made in my natural vision and correcting my nearsightedness. I can go all day without the help of glasses or contact lenses." Refractive errors is the term used for this disorder that is related to how your eye focuses light and whether or not you have good, unaided (glasses and contact lenses) vision. The word refraction is used to describe the way light is focused on the back of your eye (retina). The three factors that influence how your eye refracts (bends) rays of light are the curvature of your cornea, the power of your lens, and the length of your eye. Nearsightedness Myopia occurs when the curvature of the cornea is too steep and/or the length of the eye is too long. As the light rays pass through the steeper central cornea, they are refracted too much and come to a point of focus in front of the retina. This creates a blurred image. People with myopia experience blurred vision at a distance, but may see well close up. Normal eyesight is present when light rays strike the retina, causing a clear image to form. The curvature of the cornea and the axial length of the eyeball are responsible for myopia. With Orthokeratology (Ortho-K), contact lenses are used to reduce the corneal curvature and thus the myopia, which improves unaided visual acuity. Astigmatism Many patients with myopia have some degree of astigmatism. This means that your cornea, rather than being completely round in shape, similar to a ball, may be slightly oval and shaped more like a football. People with astigmatism experience blurred vision and sometimes distortion or tilting of images due to unequal bending of the rays of light entering their eyes. In astigmatism, light entering the eye focuses in multiple areas rather than in one location. High degrees of astigmatism will cause blurred vision for both far and near objects. For example, the image observed on the backside of a spoon is quite distorted and demonstrates a very high degree of astigmatism. Astigmatism often causes eye strain and headaches as well as blurred vision. The Accelerated Ortho-K Procedure for Treatment of Myopia with a series of contact lenses The reshaping of the cornea by means of corneal molding does not compromise the corneal integrity. On the other hand, refractive surgical shaping of the cornea (LASIK) always creates permanent irreversible changes to the corneal tissue. Corneal tissue is permanently removed by the laser during corneal refractive surgery. Mapping Your Cornea 
Before Ortho-K lenses are applied to your eyes there is a measuring of the curvature of your cornea. This latest procedure of Ortho-K is painless and done with a sophisticated computerized instrument called a Corneal Topographer, often called Corneal Mapping.The elevation, shape, and power changes of the cornea are displayed with sophisticated colored maps along with a variety of other computerized displays. This latest method of measuring the cornea is true state-of-the-art for analyzing the initial topography of the cornea and subsequent changes as the corneal molding therapy progresses. How Do Ortho-K Contact Lenses Work? 
Many patients ask, "How can specially designed and customized contact lenses possibly improve my vision without surgery?" As mentioned, due to skillful design of the lenses, when worn at night they gently mold the central curvature of the front of the eye without removal of corneal tissue. This method of reshaping reduces the light refracting power of the cornea and reduces or eliminates nearsightedness and astigmatism.The high-tech, therapeutic lenses are manufactured using carefully constructed lathes to create the rigid, gas-permeable material that allows enough oxygen to pass through the lens, so the cornea receives sufficient oxygen, to allow the eye to remain healthy even while sleeping. Until a few years ago the technology to manufacture these special lenses had not been developed. Now, the Ortho-K lenses can breath oxygen that allows people to sleep with the lenses over their cornea. Also, the new lenses allow as much as twice the vision improvement in considerably less time than previously. Ortho-K has been an authorized vision improvement procedure for more than thirty years, though only recently has the procedure been accelerated to deliver the vision improvement in a shorter time. Rapid Improvement in Vision Most of the visual changes that occur rapidly with Ortho-K happen in the first few days and weeks. Because of the rapid improvement in vision there is a need for frequent examinations and progressive lens changes. Following the accelerated change to better vision, stabilization procedures then follow at a slower pace over the next few months. The exciting aspect of Ortho-k is that for most patients it requires only hours a day to achieve better vision. After treatment and maximum desired results are accomplished, retainer contact lenses (like retainers on the teeth) are worn as necessary to stabilize the results. Following the more intense lens wear, a systematic reduction of wearing time occurs. Final retainers may be worn part time at night. Benefits
Call today for an appointment.
There's more to healthy vision than 20/20 eyesight! |
Eye ExamVision QuizVision TherapySuccess Stories
Ortho-KVision LinksDirectoryMember, Optometrists Network & Find an Eye Doctor. Publisher of What is Lazy Eye?, What is Vision Therapy?, and many other Eye Care and Visual Health Patient Education Web Sites.
Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions of Use
Copyright © 1996-2009 Optometrists Network. All rights reserved.