By Steve Roberts 

Ortho-k corrective contact lenses  which halt or significantly slow down the progression of short-sightedness - otherwise known as myopia - may prove to offer an important new treatment option for those individuals who only develop myopia after adolescence as well as those who develop it during childhood. The incidence of so-called ‘late-onset' myopia is more prevalent than previously recognised based on the results of a new study recently published in ‘Opthalmology' which examined data from over two thousand randomly selected Britons born in 1958 who had undergone a sight test at the age of 44. Almost half of this group of individuals were short-sighted but 80% of them had only developed myopia after adolescence.

The study highlighted how rates of myopia were increasing rapidly across the world and hence proposed that early life biological and social factors must also play a part in addition to genetic inheritance. The lead author Jugnoo S. Rahi, PhD, FRCOphth, of the Institute of Child Health, University College London said: "We were interested in understanding whether the development of myopia may be linked to factors that influence general growth in humans, as opposed to eye-specific factors that influence ocular growth alone."
 Ortho-k corrective contact lenses  are only worn overnight while sleeping and work by gently flattening the surface of the cornea to achieve corrected focus. After removal of the lenses each morning the correction lasts until the lenses are re-inserted at night so the eye is effectively prevented from continuing to elongate and hence the myopia does not worsen.

When assessing the data for the myopic individuals in the study, the researchers found evidence of positive links with a number of biological and social factors: relatively low birth weight, greater maternal age, maternal smoking in early pregnancy and higher paternal occupational social class. In adults, greater height, higher educational attainment, and higher socioeconomic status were associated with myopia.
 
Given that ortho-k corrective contact lenses can be worn at any age from child through to mature adult, the fact that such lenses prevent further elongation of the eye which leads to increasing myopia means that short-sighted individuals can now opt for this treatment and ensure their myopia does not continue to worsen as would otherwise be the case.

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