Calgary Trail Vision Centre: Eyewear, Eye Exam & Eye Doctor in Edmonton, Alberta

Nearsightedness, know as Myopia, is one of the most common vision problems. Nearsighted people have difficulty reading signs and clearly seeing distant objects, but they can see up-close tasks such as reading or sewing, just fine. According to Susan Vitale, NEI epidemiologist of ocular diseases and vision disorders who led the studies, “The good news about myopia is that it is easy to treat.”

Refractive surgery is a more “permanent” option for correcting myopia. This includes laser procedures such as LASIK and PRK, or non-laser options such as corneal inserts and implantable lenses. One advantage of the non-laser options is that, although they’re intended to be permanent, they may be removed in case of a problem or change of prescription.

Orthokeratology is a non-surgical procedure where special rigid gas permeable (GP) contact lenses are used to slowly reshape the cornea during sleep. After the lenses are removed the cornea retains the new shape. The patient can see clearly during the day without wearing glasses or contact lenses.

Orthokeratology, commonly called ortho-k, is a method used to correct myopia (nearsightedness) or astigmatism by wearing rigid gas permeable contact lenses overnight, so that no corrective lenses are needed during daytime hours.

Gas permeable (GP) lenses specialized for ortho-k are inserted at bedtime and worn as you sleep. Throughout the night, the lenses reshape your cornea gently so that your vision becomes clear on the following morning. The correction is temporary, and ideally no eyeglasses or contact lenses will be needed on the next day or two. In order to maintain sharp visual acuity on a daily basis, you need to wear the ortho-k reshaping lenses every night.