Orthokeratology or Corneal Refractive Therapy is a relatively new technique to improve vision without surgery. It involves wearing a moulded rigid contact lense while you sleep. This contact lense exerts a slight pressure on your eye, reshaping your cornea. The worse your eyesight is, the more pressure is needed.
I am slightly short-sighted, with my left eye being noticably worse than my right. Even so, my left eye is only -0.75, whatever that means, and my right is almost perfect, but not quite. I am only using a contact lense for my left eye.
Friday, 16 Dec 2005
I had an initial consultation with The Eye Practice on Market St in Sydney. It cost me a sweet $200 but I had a full suite of tests and got to see my eye in 3d. Medicare should cover $52 of that. He also mentioned something about the final mould fitting costing around $1000.. I suspect with all this expense, I may qualify for the Medicare 20% tax rebate.
Tuesday, 20 Dec 2005
Today I returned to The Eye Practice to receive an overnight contact and learn how to put it, pull it out, and clean it. It was an interesting experience.
These contacts are not like normal contacts. Normal contacts are reasonably sized, very flexible, and fit nicely over your eyes. Putting them in and pulling them out's more or less straight-forward. Putting these in is pretty tough, but I suspect normal contact lenses would be similar for me at this point. I'm just not used to putting things in my eyes. To pull it out, I have a plunger. Yup, a mini plunger. I am now meant to poke myself in the eye with this plunger, and pull. I suppose there's another way to get it out, but the plunger is probably the easiest way.
Anyway.. regardless.. when it's in your eye, you know it. Every blink grinds over this brittle glass. You really only want to wear this thing when you sleep.
Cost: $80.
Wednesday, 21 Dec 2005
Last night I wore it. It was excruciating to put in. I had no horizontal mirror, and was having trouble putting it in while looking at the wall mirror, so I put it in blind. It took about 15 minutes and a lot of cursing, but I finally got it in. It was quite painful. I think I probably had lint or dust on it by that time. I took a look in the mirror as best I could, and it looked like it was in correctly, although if it wasn't I probably wouldn't have tried again. I slept, and during the night my eyes watered. I woke up with two bloodshot eyes, instead of just one. Early in the morning it must have shifted position, as it was over the corner of my eye when I took it out. This probably explained why it was a bit uncomfortable in the morning.
The first thing I did was to check my vision. I walked outside and looked at some trees in the distance. Lo-and-behold, I could clearly make out the leaves with my left eye. In fact, it was better than my right eye, which has quite good vision. It has been quite a while since I saw anything but an oil-painting of trees out of my left eye.
I visited the Optometrist at 8:30am for him to check that everything was ok. Apparently many people have problems putting it in the first time, and he has to show them again. I've got scottish blood in me - there's no way I was paying to be shown the same thing twice. He also checks that you've had vision improvement and that you've not damaged the surface of your eye. I had significant vision improvement (almost perfect) and I had no damage. Cost: $0 (YAY!)
I may try again tonight, or take a break for a night. I think that I must purchase a mirror that I can place horizontal, though.
Today, a contact-wearing workmate showed me how he puts in his contacts of a morning. I'll try his technique.
My eye does feel a little odd today. It is still watering a bit. I'll see how good it is by the end of the day.
4pm
The eye is feeling a whole lot better than this morning, although it's still watering a little. My eyesight is still pretty damn good. It's hard to tell if there's been any degredation.
Thursday, 22 December 2005
I didn't wear it last night. I did try to put it in, but I was tired and I'd had a couple of beers earlier in the night, so thought I'd give it a break (after 5 minutes of trying to put it in - the little bugger kept slipping off my finger.. I need a horizontal mirror) - the optometrist said this'd be ok. This morning my eyesight is still ok, although not as good as yesterday. The trees aren't an oil painting yet. The optometrist said the good eyesight would probably only last for 3/4 of a day at this point, so I'm quite happy that it's lasting longer. This suggests that I will only have to wear it every 2nd night once I'm used to them. Less discomfort - yay!
3pm
It's still damn clear. I'm pretty sure it's not as clear as yesterday, but it's very hard to tell. If my eyesight were like this normally, I certainly wouldn't have bothered seeing an Optometrist. I wonder if this will last a 3rd day.... (ok, ok, I'm trying to avoid torturing myself tonight)
Friday, 22 December 2005
Yesterday afternoon I bought a mirror that I could lay horizontal. It only took a couple of minutes to put the contact lense in this time. It did feel very uncomfortable for a while, but after I was in bed and relaxing, it was better. In the morning it was still in-place (the first time it had shifted as I was waking), and fixed a little tighter over the eye. I could actually open my eye and hardly feel it. In fact, my first attempt to plunge it out failed, so I blinked until it felt a little looser, and then it came out with ease. I actually had a dream as I was waking up that I'd already taken it out, and was disappointed to discover that I hadn't. My eye was a little red this morning, and it will probably take a while today before it feels 100% normal again, but my vision is once again perfect.
The distance vision in my left eye is better than my right again. I'm noticing that it's taking a little bit of effort to focus on the monitor this morning from my left eye. It does focus, but it's a little slow. I guess the eye must change shape when you focus, and it's just a little inflexible after the night.. I'll try some focus exercises.
Sunday, 26 December 2005
I've worn the lense the last two nights. My distance vision is perfect out of my left eye.. however now I really notice my right eye, since it isn't perfect. It's often blurry for distance vision - I'm not sure if it's just because my left one is so good now. Focusing my left eye on short distances still takes a little while, but is ok. I've had much less trouble putting it in and almost no trouble taking it out. It's still uncomfortable putting it in, but quite ok in the morning.
Tuesday, 3 January 2006
I'm still alive. I've an appointment with the Optometrist next Monday. At that point he'll test to see if my cornea is now the correct shape, and my eye is in good health after wearing the lense for a couple of weeks. I've been wearing it most nights, unless I've had a few to drink (eg. NYE). I suspect that wearing such a contact while my body's dehydrated might not be the wisest move, so I play it safe.
If all's well, he'll probably order a new lense for me, and gouge me for the rest of the money. I'll hopefully only have to wear the new contact every 2nd or 3rd day.. some reports have suggested that far less may be required, perhaps only once per week. I guess it depends solely on your eyes.
It's much easier to put in now, although it is still uncomfortable once in. By morning, it's pretty firmly in place, and it takes a good amount of blinking to loosen it enough to plunge it out.
Tuesday, 10 January 2006
I had my followup appointment. All's well in the land of my eye. The appointment lasted for exactly 15 minutes, and the bill was $950. That's the most expensive 15 minutes I've ever had. Granted, $550 of that was for "6 months followup care". So I guess I don't have to pay anything for any visits in the next 6 months. I'm considering going once a week just for a social visit, to help justify the expense.
When he checked, my left eye had 20/20 vision. It was still a little on the plus side in the afternoon. He told me that it was -0.75 to start with, and I think he said it was +0.75 in the afternoon.
I am to wear the contact lense now only every second day. In 6 weeks, I shall visit him again, at which point he may suggest wearing it every 3rd day.
I really thought there'd be something more to the $950 charge.. I thought I'd be receiving a custom contact lense, with precision adjustments, based on the results. I probably could've skipped out on this last appointment and continued the treatment by myself.. but if something went wrong, he'd probably gouge me at that point. Sigh.
Friday, 24 February 2006
On the 6th of February I had another checkup. All's well. This time, after a night's usage, my left eye was +0.25 at 4pm. This is quite comfortable. I only wear the lense every second night. It's still not quite comfortable, but it's not irritable. It's very nice to have good vision for 2 days.
The other weekend while visiting family, I forgot the plunger. I managed to get it out by flushing my eye with liquid and poking around randomly until it fell out. I'm sure there's technique to it, and it'd be safe.. but I'd rather use the plunger as it's very convenient.
I'm keeping up with the treatment.
I intend to leave Australia in June/July, so I'll visit the optometrist one last time before I fly out.. and find a good optometrist in Germany, in case I ever have a problem.
Tuesday, 14 April 2006
The Ortho-K's been going quite well. I now ensure that I rinse my fingers with the conditioner (special contact lense fluid for rigid gas permeable lenses) before I try to put in the contact. This is better than water which is bound to have impurities, and it goes in with less irritation.
I'm still using the plunger, not having mastered the art of removing the contact without it - last time I tried I pushed it into the corner of my eye, and had to spend 5 minutes gentle coaxing it out before plunging it awkwardly.
My vision seems pretty stable. I do worry about the effect on my other eye, now - whether it will become lazier. I guess that I could get a normal contact lense for it.
Monday, 8 May 2006
All's been well. As long as I'm extra careful when putting in the lense, ensuring that it is clean and has no dust on it, it goes in nicely and feels ok. I always put it in immediately before I go to sleep, otherwise it's irritating. Of a morning I can leave it in for a little while without drama.
I'd actually be interested in trying this on my right eye also, on alternating nights, but I don't think the lenses could cope with only -0.25.. I think they start at -0.75. Plus I'm not prepared to pay so much for more treatment just yet.
I emailed my optometrist and found out the brand of lenses I have - "NightMove" from Gelflex. There seems to be a bit of competition in the ortho-k market, so I thought it would be interesting to know. I'd say that the brand rarely makes a difference, however, so just go with what your optometrist of choice supplies.
Tuesday, 19 September 2006
I've been in Germany for the last two and a half months, and everything's going well. I stocked up on contact conditioner before I left, but am rationing it regardless, as I'm not sure where to find the right one in this small town (Passau) that I'm in. I've yet to visit an optometrist here, and frankly until something goes wrong or I notice a change in my eyes, I probably won't bother.
I'm now quite good at putting it in without any major discomfort. Sometimes it goes in so easily, that I have to check that it's not still on my finger and blink a couple of times before I'm convinced.
Coming out, I now put a normal eye-drop in my eye, then blink a few times, in order to loosen it up. I then plunge and it comes out straight away.
Occasionally I fall back into my old habits of avoiding the inevitable, and flinching at inappropriate times resulting in the contact on my eyelash or cheek. But I get over that pretty quickly.. there's less chance of pain if you don't flinch.
The other day I gave it a clean with a cotton-tip, because I noticed a small build-up on it. This was actually the suggestion of the Doc a while ago. Because of the shape of the lense, it's possible that just rubbing it with your fingers won't always get all the grime out. I then rinsed and washed and rinsed it thoroughly, and it was as good as new again.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Hi all. I've been living in the Netherlands for over a year now (for the month, not the weather, trust me), and my Ortho-K lens is still going strong. In Germany I found a source of the Boston lens shampoo and conditioner (fairly easy to come by as it turns out) and all's fine, 2 years on. Happy days! :-)
Other links: another person's experience
Friday, June 5, 2009
I'm still going strong with the same lens.. 20/20 so long as I wear it. I'd like to visit an optometrist again, to see about my other eye. I suspect it's still the same as before at -0.25, but if it has approached -0.75 (the same as my Ortho-K lens eye) at all, I'd be interested in getting an Ortho-K lens for it too.. if not, maybe I'll buy some normal contact lenses - maybe daily, since then a month's supply will last me for two months or more. :-)
I'm in Italy now, and I still find it quite easy to get the cleaning liquids that I need.. I only found a different brand of liquids in Italy, but the ingredients (and stated purpose) were the same.