Orthokeratology (OrthoK) is a specially shaped contact lens that is worn overnight to gently correct nearsightedness back to normal 20/20 vision.
OrthoK has many names including:
- Gentle Vision Reshaping
- Gentle Cornea Reshaping
- Cornea Reshaping Technology
- LASIK without surgery
As you can probably tell from the names above, OrthoK involves reshaping your cornea! A great comparison is . Teeth retainers are . OrthoK works very similarly to… teeth retainers in that they are a mold that you wear overnight to keep your cornea or teeth aligned. But you need to understand a couple of ocular terms before you continue…
- Cornea – the front tissue of the eye. Clear in appearance and sits in front of your iris (the colored part of your eyes).
- Emmetropia – no prescription (0). When light is focused in emmtropic eyes, it is perfectly focused on the retina (back tissue of the eye.)
- Myopia (nearsightedness) – myopic eyes have a more curved cornea than emmetropic eyes; this results in light being focused inside of the eye.
Light is focused in front of the retina in myopic eyes (near sightedness).
Now, OrthoK technology is an FDA approved modern non-surgical contact lens. The OrthoK lens involves gently reshaping a myopic eye to an emmtropic eye overnight.
Light is focused perfectly on the retina in emmetropic or OrthoK eyes. Notice the cornea is flatter than Myopic eyes (picture above.)
Learn more at: Eyetrending.com
