Orthokeratology: Vision Correction While You Sleep

Fed up of depending on glasses or contact lenses during the day? If you wish there was a way to correct your vision without laser eye surgery then Orthokeratology could be the solution for you.

Orthokeratology lenses (or Ortho K lenses) are state-of-the-art overnight contact lenses that temporarily reshape the surface of your cornea as you sleep. This painless process corrects refractive errors, so when you wake up you won’t need any vision correction at all during the day! Ortho K lenses can also slow and even reverse the progression of myopia in children and teenagers.

It’s a revolutionary step forward for anyone looking for an alternative to surgery, and many of our patients claim that the technology has completely transformed their vision experience.

How Precisely Does Ortho K Work?

Orthokeratology is a painless method of vision correction in which we fit your eyes with specially engineered gas-permeable contact lenses that you wear while you sleep.  These overnight contact lenses feature a flattened surface that gently presses your cornea – the surface of your eye – into shape so when you rise in the morning the light entering your eye from the outside world is refracted onto your retina at the correct angle.

After just a few nights of wearing Ortho K lenses, you’ll be able to see clearly without the need for glasses or contact lenses and after a couple of days the vision-correcting effect wears off, so you always have the option of returning to your specs. The results can be truly life changing.

When you first start wearing your Ortho K lenses it takes between three days and two weeks for your eyes to reach maximum vision correction and you may require a few temporary pairs to gradually build up to your ideal prescription. As your eyes adjust at these initial stages you may experience slightly blurred vision and halos around bright lights, though these symptoms will settle down within a few days.

Who Can Use Orthokeratology?

The technology is primarily used to correct refractive errors in people who are shortsighted, and can even significantly adjust prescriptions upwards of -6.00D.

Perhaps you’re adverse to the risks of laser eye surgery? Perhaps you’re not a suitable candidate for surgery due to age or another underlying condition? Or perhaps you work in a dusty or dry environment not conducive to wearing contact lenses during the day?  Orthokeratology could help you achieve perfect vision without the need for eyewear or surgery.

We also recommend Ortho K lenses as the ideal vision-correction solution for children, who can find wearing glasses or contact lenses inconvenient with their active day-to-day lives. The technology is incredibly effective in the short-term, but recent research has also found that the fitting of Ortho K lenses can slow down and even reverse the onset of myopia in young wearers.

How Are Overnight Contact Lenses Fitted?

Here at Karen Lockyer we’re proud to be one of the only practices in the UK to specialise in the fitting of Orthokeratology lenses, and our highly qualified optometrists will ensure that you leave with lenses bespoke to your prescription.

The fitting process itself is painless and quick. After a chat about your personal requirements, one of our optometrists will measure the shape of your corneas with a corneal topographer to create a 3D map of your eyes’ surface. We’ll then be able to fit you with Ortho K lenses bespoke to your prescription and make sure you’re equipped to use and look after them properly.

If you’d like to find out more about Orthokeratology get in touch with our expert team, who’re always on hand to answer your questions. Or if you’d like to go ahead and organise an appointment, simply book online or give us a call on 0203 808 4673.