To determine if you are a candidate for Ortho-K, a few things must be considered: your visual needs/expectations, eye health, type and level of prescription, hours of sleep, and willingness to participate. There are no age requirements.
I Have Myopia (aka Nearsightedness)
WHAT IT MEANS: You were prescribed glasses for the distance (driving, TV, anything greater than a couple feet away). When correction isn’t worn, you likely see better up close or at arm’s length.
HOW ORTHO-K CAN HELP: You won’t need to put on glasses to see in the distance any longer!
IT’S COMPLICATED: If you’re nearsighted and in your forties, additional Ortho-k testing is required to balance your distance and near vision.
I Have Astigmatism
IT’S COMPLICATED: Astigmatism can occur with both myopia and hyperopia
WHAT IT MEANS: You see distortion and/or shadows without your glasses, which you might wear for both distance and near.
HOW ORTHO-K CAN HELP: We can greatly reduce or eliminate the distortion and shadows!
I Have Hyperopia (aka Farsightedness)
Farsightedness is more complicated, it breaks down into two categories (simplified for this web format)
Category 1
You’re farsighted and only have trouble with reading.
YOUR EXPERIENCE: Vision has been fairly clear for your whole life, but upon landing in your 40-50s, you find that you now need reading glasses.
HOW ORTHO-K CAN HELP: You won’t need reading glasses for most of your daily tasks! It will feel like your eyes are ten years younger.
Category 2
You’re farsighted and have trouble with both reading and the distance.
YOUR EXPERIENCE: Vision has been clear up until your 30-40s, but now you need glasses for both distance and near.
HOW ORTHO-K CAN HELP: This scenario is the most life-changing for patients! Ortho-k essentially reverses your visual clock by about 15 years, back when you didn’t have to wear glasses for most tasks.
Is there an age limit?
No!
Even though our range of Ortho-k patients spans from ages six to sixty, we have Ortho-k patients in their late sixties who experience vision as if they were twenty years younger!
What if I've never worn lenses before (eg. I'm sensitive of objects near my eyes!)
No worries! All contact lens wearers were NON-contact lens wearers at a certain point!
Adapting to any type of contact lens is a process, but we’ve simplified the process with a few easy-to-follow “homework” steps that help you adjust slowly. It’s quite a lot to expect a patient to insert lenses on their first go, so we turn it into a stepwise, progressive journey. By the end of it, you’ll realize that it was a team effort all along!
What if I've had LASIK or PRK before?
If you’ve had refractive surgery in the past, please send us your most recent (within 1-2 years) prescription *before* scheduling a consultation. There are some post-refractive surgery outcomes that work well with Ortho-k, but there are many that disqualify you as a candidate. In general, Ortho-k becomes much more difficult to perform after refractive surgery. Alternatively, scleral lenses work great for most post-refractive patients who are not candidates for Ortho-k. Read more about them here.
Ortho-k performed on patients who have had refractive surgery is considered off-label.
What if I have to remove my glasses to read? How would Ortho-k work for my eyes?
This question only applies to patients who are at least forty years old and are myopic (aka nearsighted).
If you wear glasses to drive and must remove them to read more clearly, your eye dominance determines whether you are a good candidate for Ortho-k. Eye dominance is an easy thing to test in the office, you’ll just need to come in wearing your contacts or glasses.
Please do not schedule a consultation before having your eye dominance assessed by your current provider (or by us). You can call or text to request an “eye dominance test for Ortho-k” at no cost so that our technicians can quickly determine if you are a candidate. Remember that no additional testing is performed at this visit except for determining eye dominance.
Again, assuming you are nearsighted and are at least forty years old, there will be two possibilities. If one eye is very dominant, Ortho-k will work well and you will have usable distance and near vision. If both eyes are equally dominant, we can reduce your prescription in both eyes so that you can be functional without glasses for most of your day indoors, but you will still need glasses for driving.
Allow us to take part in your vision care and you’ll love what you see.