Ortho k – A New Wearer’s Experience
My fifteen year old daughter, Arianne, has become increasingly more short sighted recently. She was reluctant to try ortho k as she was, understandably, not keen to poke herself in the eye and leave a lump of plastic in there. Reassurance that both mum and dad are optometrists and look after people in this situation every day seems to count for nothing! She has finally relented and I thought it might be helpful for prospective clients to hear what it is like. I asked her to be honest and not just write what she thought we wanted to read. Here is her blog unaltered with just a clarification from me.
Alan Bellamy
I started EyeDream (a brand of orthokeratology – Alan) because my eyesight was quickly getting worse. Both of my parents are short sighted so I knew my eyesight was going to get quite bad pretty soon.
Before I started I thought that the EyeDream lenses were going to be painful, keep me from sleeping and not let me see as well as my glasses would.
On night one I found them very uncomfortable, I was worried that they wouldn’t work and overall disliked them. After wearing them overnight I woke up to find that they weren’t that uncomfy anymore. Once I had taken them out I could see well. I was very shocked but pleased that my night of pain (not at all dramatic) was worth it. Throughout the day my eyesight did very gradually get worse so by the evening of that day I was nowhere near as enthusiastic as I was that morning but I begrudgingly put them in, they weren’t at all as uncomfy as they were the previous night.
After wearing them for two nights I found them not to be as uncomfortable anymore and I could see! I started to see how it was really worth it.
On the third night I could keep my eyes open with the lenses in and watch TV before sleeping with them in, there didn’t really feel like there was anything in my eyes anymore. I can now see after three days without discomfort from the lenses at night.
Now that I have started wearing them I don’t see why I would stop. I’m so glad that I did do it (even though I did complain an awful lot on the first night) and it really is a lot easier, comfier and overall 10x better than I thought it was going to be.
Arianne Bellamy
Father’s note.
I think Ari was being a little generous regarding the discomfort as I still notice her with her head tilted back so she’s looking downwards. Since I’ve worn these lenses myself in the past I know that this makes them more comfortable. The first evening was fun! She could not open her eyes initially and really was not happy. She toughed it out, though, and things improved from there. I’m really pleased with how she has taken to them. When adapted, we found she could get away with only wearing the lenses alternate nights and still maintain 20/20 vision constantly. That is unusual, though, most people get one night off a week if they’re lucky.
If you would like to know more about orthokeratology at our Leicester or Irthlingborough opticians practices feel free to get in touch and we’d be happy to have a no obligation chat.
Here is some useful information on myopia management and orthokeratology