A quick instructional video on how to clean your OrthoK lenses
COVID and its impact on myopia. What can a parent do to protect their kids?
TheCoVid-19 pandemic has forced school, mall, parks and other outdoor activities to close. This has forced children to “shelter in their homes”. What do they do inside a home? The play video games and work at their computers for hours and hours. Lack of outdoor time and extensive near work are both serious risk factors for increasing myopia.
Will we see a large increase in kids developing nearsightedness in the next year? Will myopic kids find that their prescription increases in strength at a faster rate in the coming year? It is very possible.
So what can a parent do to lessen these serious challenges posed by “shelter in home”?
1. Ensure that your child goes outdoors for 1 hour every day.
2. Invent interesting outdoor activities, and participate with your kids.
3. Allow your child to read or work on their computers/ipads outdoors.
4. Ensure that they take a 10 minute break for every 30 minutes of screen time.
5. Try to limit the screen time to 4 hours per day.
6. The web has lots of ideas to help you protect your child’s future sight:
Supporting Kids During the Coronavirus Crisis | Child Mind Institute
250+ Creative Ways to Keep Your Family Sane During the COVID-19 Crisis
Top Contact Lens Experts Dispel Misinformation Regarding Coronavirus / COVID-
19 Protections for Contact Lens Wearers
WATERLOO, Ontario, March 12, 2020—Three of the world’s most published researchers in eye health
are responding to misinformation circulating regarding contact lens and spectacles/glasses wear amidst
Novel Coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic. Lyndon Jones, director of the Centre for Ocular Research &
Education (CORE) at the University of Waterloo (Canada); Philip Morgan, director of Eurolens Research
at The University of Manchester (United Kingdom); and Jason Nichols, Associate Vice President
Research and Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry (United States)
and editor in chief of Contact Lens Spectrum, are advising eye care professionals and consumers to heed
sound, evidence-based practices.
Contact Lens Wear is Safe. Despite myths and misinformation that have arisen over the past 48
hours, contact lens wear remains a safe and highly effective form of vision correction for millions
of people worldwide.
Proper Hand Washing is Essential. When using contact lenses or spectacles, careful and
thorough hand washing with soap and water followed by hand drying with unused paper towels is
paramount. For contact lens wearers, this should occur before every insertion and removal.
Disinfect Contact Lenses. Contact lens wearers should either dispose of their daily disposable
lenses each evening, or regularly disinfect their monthly and two-week lenses according to
manufacturer and eye care professional instructions.
Disinfect Spectacles and Glasses. Some viruses such as COVID-19 can remain on hard surfaces
for hours to days, which can be transferred to spectacles wearers’ fingers and faces. This
especially holds true for presbyopes (people generally over the age of 40). Most presbyopes
require reading glasses and they may be putting them on and off their face multiple times a day.
This age group appears to be among the more vulnerable population for developing COVID-19,
as compared with contact lens wearers, who are typically younger.
Discontinue Lens Wear Only if Sick. Ceasing contact lens wear when sick is advised, consistent
with guidance for other types of illness.
Spectacles are Not Proven to Offer Protection. There is no scientific evidence that wearing
spectacles or glasses provide protection against COVID-19 or other viral transmissions.
OrthoK for myopia control- Latest theories.
Orthokeratology, also known as Ortho k, is a hard lens worn at night to reshape the cornea, allowing the wearer to see without glasses and contact lenses. In this practice we fit Ortho k mainly for its benefits in slowing myopia progression.
Latest Theories:
When I first started fitting OK lenses 25 years ago they were mainly being used as an alternative to Lasik, as it provided freedom from glasses and contacts during the day but didn’t require surgery.
Nowadays Ortho k is mainly fit to short sighted (myopic) children, to slow the progression.
Through research, we are greatly improving our understanding of how these lenses control myopia.
Exciting research is investigating what is the optimal treatment zone for myopia control. Current studies are suggesting that a smaller treatment zone may give great myopia control effect, we will watch this space!
Dr Boneham has been designing custom ortho k lenses since 2016, this allows him to incorporate new research, such as treatment zone size, into his lens designs quickly. He can also deal with more difficult fits by changing the curves of the contact lenses.
If you are interested in the latest research, or how Ortho k might work better for you don’t hesitate to call us on 84225700