By Steve Roberts 

Contact lenses for children  are now available which not only correct myopia (otherwise known as short-sightedness where distant objects appear blurry) but also stop the child's prescription worsening any further. The custom-designed lenses are only worn overnight while sleeping and after removal each morning the child enjoys perfect natural vision all day long until the lenses are reinserted again at bedtime, a treatment known as ‘orthokeratology or, more commonly, ortho-k. The importance of this new treatment breakthrough is highlighted by the results of a new Australian study - the Sydney Myopia Study (SMS) - which aims to document the prevalence of myopia across a large representative sample of Sydney schoolchildren aged 6 and 12 years old. Some 4,000 Sydney schoolchildren in total across the two age groups were examined and the results showed that myopia prevalence was low by current international standards.

These results are largely attributed to the Australian environment and lifestyle which involves spending a significant amount of time outdoors participating in various sports and other types of physical activities. As such, the schoolchildren are required to frequently switch between focusing on both near and distant objects in an environment which is up to ten times brighter when compared with typical indoor lighting. Even so, it was also observed that within this broad population group children from East and South Asian communities where much heavier emphasis is placed on educational activities which primarily involve near vision tasks and take place indoors had higher significantly higher levels of myopia. For such children, prescribing glasses is the standard approach to vision correction but the new ortho-k contact lenses for children  now offer an alternative treatment.

Prescribing glasses does not stop the child's myopia continuing to deteriorate and this can be by as much as half a diopter each year during adolescence whereas recent researc h has demonstrated that ortho-k contact lenses for children  are effective in halting the progression of short-sightedness. These new lenses work by gently flattening the surface of the eye during sleep so that light focuses directly on the retina at the back of the eye rather than in front of it. And by the way they restrain the eye overnight, they act like a dental brace so that the eye is prevented from continuing to elongate and thereby worsen the level of myopia. Given the recently confirmed higher risks of glaucoma and cataract associated with even low levels of myopia, correcting myopia and preventing it worsening is of major importance to future eye health.

Check if you are suitable for overnight ortho-k corrective contact lenses .