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An expert who regularly prescribes overnight contact lenses has highlighted their key advantages, reports the Bangor Daily News.
Dr Kimberly Allen is a corneal refractive therapy-certified optometrist with Penobscot Eye Care. She prescribes
orthokeratology contact lenses, which reshape a person's eye while they are asleep so that conventional contact lenses and glasses are not needed in the daytime.
She told the news provider: "It's a nice way to eliminate the need for corrective eyewear during the day. I don't know why more patients aren't doing it."
Orthokeratology has been around for four decades and the lenses have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for people with prescriptions up to 6.00 diopters (a unit of measurement of the power of a contact lens) of myopia with no more than -1.75 diopters of astigmatism.
Dr Allen also said that the
corrective contact lenses can slow the progression of myopia in children as they stop their eyes from working as hard.
The
orthok contact lenses are non-invasive and reversible, so if they do not work then there is no harm done to the eyes.
Dr Allen told the news provider: "It's less risky then laser eye surgery, and there are not any long-term side effects."
The FDA is currently conducting a five-year study to confirm earlier research on the use of corrective
contact lenses for children, and once it is completed Dr Allen expects to see a surge in the use of
orthokeratology contact lenses in the US.
Dr Cody Jones, an optometrist at Complete Family Eye Care in the US, recently told KIDK of the importance of
myopia control in children in allowing their eyes to develop properly.
Eye Health: Find out if overnight contact lenses will suit you.
By Nick Howard
