Ortho K - evidence of benefit?

[sawman]

My 13 year old went to the opticians today, she has worn specs for 4 years, and has been changing quite a bit. The optician suggested that ortho K might be helpful in slowing down this progression and allow her to do without specs. She doesn't mind wearing specs.

I remember reading up on this topic a couple of years ago, and whilst there does seem to be some benefits, the seemed to be some questions about the long term position, and the risk of infection.

any user experience or professional feedback??

[Prof Prolapse]

Have a good read here;

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cochranelibrary/sea...

Be sure to be wary of, among other things, who has written the paper, and the size of the sample they have used.

[sawman]

Cheers Prof,

I did have a browse of the cochrane site earlier - what strikes me about the vast majority of the work on this subject is that sample sizes are pretty small.

[Prof Prolapse]

I would guess they don't have the budget, academic in origin, or simply just early days. You want a big trial you need to pay for it. Even small trials like those in early phase cost millions. There's a lot of professional salaries to pay.

You really need to find a review by a reputable institution, Cochrane library is always my first stop but science direct is another good website along with Medline. Personally I'm skeptical of optometrists, so I'd sooner believe a Opthalmologist.

No specialist advice I can offer though I'm afraid.

[968]

sawman said:

My 13 year old went to the opticians today, she has worn specs for 4 years, and has been changing quite a bit. The optician suggested that ortho K might be helpful in slowing down this progression and allow her to do without specs. She doesn't mind wearing specs.

I remember reading up on this topic a couple of years ago, and whilst there does seem to be some benefits, the seemed to be some questions about the long term position, and the risk of infection.

any user experience or professional feedback??

I'd strongly advise against it, particularly in a child of this age group. If the prescription really us changing very frequently, the option should refer to an ophthalmologist to check for any other issues. Even if there are none, I'd still not recommend Ortho K. The evidence base is very small.

[toohuge]

I've been wearing Ortho K lenses for 10 years now, I started as I played a lot of waterpolo and couldn't see whilst in the water, with only one instance of bother - put a lens in my eye with a cotton strand on it! - quick trip to hospital and it was sorted. As for long term wear, so far no issues and my vision is still good. It allows me a huge amount of flexibility from wearing regular sun glasses to not worrying about swimming and lens falling out and infection etc.

For me (wearing since I was 15) they have worked well, but do present the following problems as your vision wears off throughout the day:

- Long haul travel can be tiresome as my vision wears off and makes driving / reading signs difficult upon arrival

- Short nights affect vision (as lenses don't have enough time to correct vision)

- If you forget your lenses whilst staying away holiday / business travel / late night party. then you're in a funny position as your vision wears off gradually so one pair of glasses wont do.

All in all, I love the system and whilst it has presented a few minor inconveniences, it is certainly miles better than wearing glasses or contacts and it is fully reversible unlike laser surgery.

If you want any more information, feel free to PM me or discuss on this thread, happy to help.

Chris

[968]

toohuge said:

I've been wearing Ortho K lenses for 10 years now, I started as I played a lot of waterpolo and couldn't see whilst in the water, with only one instance of bother - put a lens in my eye with a cotton strand on it! - quick trip to hospital and it was sorted. As for long term wear, so far no issues and my vision is still good. It allows me a huge amount of flexibility from wearing regular sun glasses to not worrying about swimming and lens falling out and infection etc.

For me (wearing since I was 15) they have worked well, but do present the following problems as your vision wears off throughout the day:

- Long haul travel can be tiresome as my vision wears off and makes driving / reading signs difficult upon arrival

- Short nights affect vision (as lenses don't have enough time to correct vision)

- If you forget your lenses whilst staying away holiday / business travel / late night party. then you're in a funny position as your vision wears off gradually so one pair of glasses wont do.

All in all, I love the system and whilst it has presented a few minor inconveniences, it is certainly miles better than wearing glasses or contacts and it is fully reversible unlike laser surgery.

If you want any more information, feel free to PM me or discuss on this thread, happy to help.

Chris

It's great that it's worked for you but it's not a safe option in a child of any age and also the priority should be for this child to be examined to ensure there are no other issues affecting the cornea and visual system. To the OP, please do not let anecdotes dictate your decision on something that could be a major problem. Seek professional advice and opinion and base your decision on evidence, not anecdote.

[sawman]

968 said:

toohuge said:

I've been wearing Ortho K lenses for 10 years now, I started as I played a lot of waterpolo and couldn't see whilst in the water, with only one instance of bother - put a lens in my eye with a cotton strand on it! - quick trip to hospital and it was sorted. As for long term wear, so far no issues and my vision is still good. It allows me a huge amount of flexibility from wearing regular sun glasses to not worrying about swimming and lens falling out and infection etc.

For me (wearing since I was 15) they have worked well, but do present the following problems as your vision wears off throughout the day:

- Long haul travel can be tiresome as my vision wears off and makes driving / reading signs difficult upon arrival

- Short nights affect vision (as lenses don't have enough time to correct vision)

- If you forget your lenses whilst staying away holiday / business travel / late night party. then you're in a funny position as your vision wears off gradually so one pair of glasses wont do.

All in all, I love the system and whilst it has presented a few minor inconveniences, it is certainly miles better than wearing glasses or contacts and it is fully reversible unlike laser surgery.

If you want any more information, feel free to PM me or discuss on this thread, happy to help.

Chris

It's great that it's worked for you but it's not a safe option in a child of any age and also the priority should be for this child to be examined to ensure there are no other issues affecting the cornea and visual system. To the OP, please do not let anecdotes dictate your decision on something that could be a major problem. Seek professional advice and opinion and base your decision on evidence, not anecdote.

Cheers Guys,

I think on balance we will probably not pursue the ortho k for my daughter, I am troubled by the lack of decent evidence, it seems that folks have been looking at ortho k for many years but as yet there really doesn't seem to be any large scale studies, or even multi centre smaller studies.

[toohuge]

968 said:

toohuge said:

I've been wearing Ortho K lenses for 10 years now, I started as I played a lot of waterpolo and couldn't see whilst in the water, with only one instance of bother - put a lens in my eye with a cotton strand on it! - quick trip to hospital and it was sorted. As for long term wear, so far no issues and my vision is still good. It allows me a huge amount of flexibility from wearing regular sun glasses to not worrying about swimming and lens falling out and infection etc.

For me (wearing since I was 15) they have worked well, but do present the following problems as your vision wears off throughout the day:

- Long haul travel can be tiresome as my vision wears off and makes driving / reading signs difficult upon arrival

- Short nights affect vision (as lenses don't have enough time to correct vision)

- If you forget your lenses whilst staying away holiday / business travel / late night party. then you're in a funny position as your vision wears off gradually so one pair of glasses wont do.

All in all, I love the system and whilst it has presented a few minor inconveniences, it is certainly miles better than wearing glasses or contacts and it is fully reversible unlike laser surgery.

If you want any more information, feel free to PM me or discuss on this thread, happy to help.

Chris

It's great that it's worked for you but it's not a safe option in a child of any age and also the priority should be for this child to be examined to ensure there are no other issues affecting the cornea and visual system. To the OP, please do not let anecdotes dictate your decision on something that could be a major problem. Seek professional advice and opinion and base your decision on evidence, not anecdote.

968 - Could you PM me with more information please?

Thanks
Chris