Ortokeratology: annual experience using night lenses

About 50% of the population do not have 100% vision - and among IT professionals and geeks who spend time watching closely at screens of various sizes, this percentage tends to be a hundred. At the moment there are several ways to correct vision.

I tried almost all of them, and at the request of the public I describe my personal experience. I was also “lucky” to get on almost all the shoals that may come in the way of the owner of orthokeratological lenses, so my experience may be useful to those who are thinking about using them.
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Glasses

Points are known from about the 13th century. Lenses, compensating for the lack of vision, are in the frame, and dangle on the nose of a near-sighted person. Previously, people also used their variants such as monocles and pince-nez, but today the latter have already moved into the category of atavism.

I am familiar with these crutches for the eyes from school - from the moment when it became clear that I could not see the inscriptions on the blackboard even from the first party. I think that everyone is more or less familiar with this device.

Pros points

• someone likes the appearance of a person with glasses; I understand that many modern hipster mods even wear glasses without correction, simply because of the rim
• glasses of constant wear is difficult enough to leave somewhere or forget to take with you on a trip.
• less likely to get an insect or other foreign object into the eye

Cons points

• The frame presses on the skin and rubs it at the points of contact.
• the "bespectacled" image is automatically attached to the person
• even aspherical lenses distort the image.
• long work at a computer with glasses visibly tires your eyes
• they fog up when moving between rooms with different temperature and humidity
• they must be periodically cleaned of sebum and other contaminants
• in the rain, they interfere with the review
• do not provide normal peripheral vision
• they can be knocked down by an awkward movement, dropped, broken
• Difficult exercise of extreme sports, the use of helmets, etc.
• with a strong difference in vision between the two eyes, it is often impossible to complete correction

I think that bespectacled colleagues will gladly complete this list.

Contact lenses

The first contact lens was made back in the 19th century, but at that time it was glass products that were completely uncomfortable to have in the eye. Polymer soft lenses began to appear from the 1960s, and recently science has offered more and more sophisticated lenses. You quickly get used to them and the feeling of a foreign body in the eye disappears.

After I was tired of the glasses, I tried to use contact lenses. I just got into that situation when the difference in vision between two eyes exceeded 1.5 diopters, which makes it impossible to completely correct the vision in both eyes. An eye that sees worse will not receive a 100% correction.

Modern lenses, even for people with astigmatism, are sold at a reasonable price (spending a month on disposable, the simplest and most hygienic to use, is about 3,000 rubles). According to the manufacturers, the material of modern lenses passes almost all the oxygen to the cornea and does not harm it.

Advantages of contact lenses

• all minuses of points are removed; there is no sense to list them again
• fairly easy to handle, learn to take them off and put on.
• disposable lenses do not require care
• full correction is possible for both eyes with different eyesight

Cons of contact lenses

• you need to remember to take them with you if you go somewhere from home, including all their accessories - storage tank, cleaning fluid (in the case of reusable lenses), moisturizing drops
• if you are unexpectedly out of the house, you can remain without lenses
• If they are lost or stolen, inconvenience also occurs.
• you must have moisturizing drops with you, especially for people with “dry eye syndrome”
• it is necessary to get used to wearing lenses for several days, gradually increasing the daily wearing time
• in case of a mote into the eye, the pain is more intense than that of an eye without lenses
• theoretically, the lens can knock the ball into the head or wash it with water while bathing
• it is inconvenient to go on hikes and expeditions with lenses - it is hard to wash your hands completely, you need to carry extra liquids and objects with you
• can not be used during illness with fever

The use of contact lenses was not very successful for me, they were constantly “fidgety” in their eyes, they required abundant “watering” (due to “dry eye syndrome”), and as a result I could not get used to them.

Night lenses

Having met somewhere the description of night lenses, I became interested in them and studied this question. They are also called ortho-lenses, night lenses, OK-lenses . Their essence is that they are used at night. Since these lenses are made of rigid (albeit gas-permeable) plastic, during the night they rearrange the corneal epithelium in a specified way.

The mechanism for correcting myopia in orthokeratology is a change in the shape of corneal epithelial cells under the action of a lens. The hydraulic forces under the lens through the tear layer act on the surface cells of the cornea. Those, in turn, gradually flatten in the center and increase to the periphery of the cornea. The changed shape forms a natural lens that compensates for visual impairments. That is, these lenses are worn in the evening, immediately before bedtime, and removed in the morning, immediately after waking up.

The normal anatomy of the cornea and the integrity of its layers are not disturbed. The changes are so small (10-30 microns) that only special equipment can detect them. However, these changes are enough to see well all day without glasses and contact lenses.

The first attempts to manufacture such lenses were made back in the 60s, and in the 80s a prototype of a modern OK lens appeared, which became possible to produce on CNC machines. Gradually, devices for accurate measurement of the corneal geometry and rigid gas-permeable materials appeared.

In Russia, such lenses appeared at the beginning of this century. According to the ophthalmologists who deal with them, these lenses help inhibit the development of myopia in children and adolescents.

All this sounded pretty fantastic, but I decided to try this method as an alternative to the expensive method of final correction of LASIK (which I, after talking with ophthalmologists, am a little afraid of).

Selection and use

Lenses are made to order after measuring all the parameters of the eye with the help of special equipment in ophthalmological offices. In the Moscow company that I turned to, the terms of service were as follows: the patient pays the cost of the lenses and the cost of the examination once, after which it is possible to visit the ophthalmologist's office in case of any questions or problems for free and an unlimited number of times. In this case, the ophthalmologist prescribes a periodic examination every 3 months.

The cost of the service was approximately 17 thousand rubles, of which about 3 thousand is the remuneration of the doctor’s work, and 14 thousand is the cost of making two lenses. Lenses last for a year with proper handling.

In the office there is a decent set of ready-made lenses, and if you have eyesight and eyes that are not too problematic, there is a chance that you will pick them up on the spot. I, of course, was not so simple, and the lenses had to be ordered (production time - 3-4 working days).

It turned out that you need to get used to such lenses for quite a long time. Since they are rigid, they are felt in the eye as a foreign body. True, I almost did not feel them with my eyes closed even from the first days — and since I sleep with my eyes closed, this is not a problem. In addition, the effect of the action of the lenses is cumulative - immediately after the first few days, the vision will not be 100%. The result appears after a few weeks of constant wear.

Although these lenses are designed for night wear, they are quite possible to function - they correct vision immediately after wearing, just like regular contact lenses. But it is necessary to get used to feeling them in the eye with eyelids open. They say that this is possible - in the end, people with difficult problems have to wear hard contact lenses during the day. I did not set myself such a goal. But it is possible in the evening, wearing lenses, something else to read, and in the morning, without immediately removing, also do something about it.

During the initial selection of lenses, they put them in my eyes, and I sat in the waiting room for half an hour - after such a time, the first effects, which can be assessed using the equipment, begin. For the normal effect of correcting vision, which will last throughout the day, you must wear them at least 8-9 hours at night.

Depending on the strength of vision, the effect may last longer. Generally, the lenses are shown with myopia up to -6 diopters and astigmatism up to -1.5 diopters (though, literally every month new opportunities appear and the boundaries shift). If your myopia is not very strong, you can wear lenses every other day. Even to me, with my -4, after several nights of continuous wearing lenses, you can not put them on for one night, and all the next day I can work at a computer, drive a car, etc. So, if I'm lucky, and I suddenly stay with someone overnight, the next day I do not need help to get home.

After selecting the lenses, the doctor checks that they have "sat down" normally, after the first full night with them. You must wear them in the evening, sleep, and in the morning, without taking off, get to the doctor. He checks landing and other parameters.

Surprise was the process of removing OK-lenses. They are put on and removed over the mirror lying on the table. To put them on is as easy as contact ones. But just remove the "pinch" will not work - they are tough. There are special wands with suction cups with which they can be removed, but the ophthalmologist did not recommend this method as traumatic.

Removed lenses in 3 stages. In the morning, when they “stuck” to the eyes during the night, it is necessary to moisten them well with drops. After a few minutes, you can massage the area around the lenses so that the drops fall under them. And then you can shoot them, stretching both eyelids with your finger so that the edges of the eyelids press on the edges of the lenses. Then the lenses “pop up” from the eyes. Unaccustomed to - can and on the floor, I dropped them so several times. Normally, I started getting this procedure only after three or four weeks. The finger of one hand tightens the eyelids, and the other hand catches the departing lens in the palm.

If it is too zealous to try to take out the lens when it is not completely “out of place”, you can damage the cornea. And I, of course, also did this. There was nothing particularly terrible - for a few days I had to take a break and drip special healing drops.

Since the lenses are reusable, they need to be stored and cleaned. Two storage options are offered. One is the usual liquid for storing lenses, and daily cleansing with a special soapy liquid.

The second is a liquid based on hydrogen peroxide, in which the lenses are stored in a special container with a solid catalyst. As a result of the reaction, bubbles form, which contribute to the mechanical cleaning of the lens. In this case, you need to wash the lenses with soapy liquid, but only once a week.

The second method is more convenient, but it has one drawback. Since the reaction produces gas, the storage bottle is leaking. If it turns over, the liquid flows out of it. Therefore, traveling with him is problematic. If you drive a car, then you can come up with a box in which it will be securely fastened. But in a hike or just a trip with a suitcase and a backpack will already be more difficult.

If the cornea is sensitive (naturally, I ran into it), the eyes get tired of such lenses overnight. True, there is a miracle cure "Korneregel", designed to restore the cornea, the periodic use of which solves this problem.

With dim lighting and at dusk, I have a “halo” effect around bright or luminous objects. The ophthalmologist explains this by saying that correcting the shape of the cornea affects only a small central area of ​​the eye. With a lack of illumination, the pupil opens widely, and the light begins to refract through the area of ​​the eye that is not subject to correction. To this effect, amid all the advantages, I have already become accustomed.

Pros OK-lenses

• just like with ordinary lenses, all minuses of glasses are removed
• during the day you feel yourself in all senses, like a person with normal vision
• no moistening drops during the day
• mote, dust, water and other factors do not bring any additional problems.
• compared to LASIK, the effect is reversible. They stopped wearing lenses - everything was restored, a maximum of 3 days

Cons OK-lenses

• you need to remember to take them with you if you go somewhere from home, including all their accessories - storage tank, cleaning fluid, moisturizing drops
• it is advisable not to spend the night more than once
• it takes several weeks to get used to the removal procedure
• hiking and expeditions are also uncomfortable
• can not be used during illness with fever
• for good effect and with poor eyesight, you need to wear 8-9 hours - people sleeping for 5-7 hours will be hard
• the effect of restoring vision is not instantaneous and is present only with more or less constant use of lenses
• if you rub your eye at night in your sleep, you can rub it or damage the cornea
• you can not sleep face in the pillow so that something pressed on the eyes

Cost of

• lenses: 14000 r / year
• service: 3000 r / year
• liquid for daily cleaning: about 6000 r / year
• liquid for weekly cleaning: 700 r / year
• drops: 2300 r / year

Total: 26000 r / g, or 2200 r / month.

Results

I have been using OK lenses for more than a year, that is, I have already “demolished” old ones and ordered new ones. After I became clever enough to remove and put on the lenses, there were no problems with using them. Sometimes I did not put them on for one night - for example, once I had a temperature, and did not put them on. Found that with constant use one night and you can skip.

Meklon :

“And what will happen in a couple of years with a cornea, if it is so zamkat every day?”

This is the 15th month of the experiment. Periodic examinations once every 3 months did not reveal any problems with the eyes. Moreover, the vision stopped falling (with glasses it fell a little every year). Redness of eyes and fatigue at the end of the day disappeared (I work at a computer). Points for many months are stored in the guard. He remembered a very funny feeling of the first days without glasses, when the movement of air is felt with unprotected eyes, for the first time after many years spent behind the glasses.

Compared with glasses - this is an unconditional breakthrough. With conventional lenses - also more convenient. For a homebody who does not go hiking several times a year, this is a great option. It is possible to go on a visit, taking with you a box with a container, liquid and drops. In addition, no one bothers to combine lenses with glasses, if you suddenly needed to go to the taiga for a couple of weeks. Although, after getting used to the lenses, glasses no longer want to return.

But I still think about the constant laser correction. It has its drawbacks - the likelihood of complications and a very high price (and I want, of course, femtolasik ). But there are also advantages: after that, no fuss with containers and liquids, no danger of losing something and forgetting, and the opportunity to live and travel without thinking about additional devices.