Aayan has been wearing his spectacles since Primary 1 and we got to know when he went for his eye checkup during the annual eye examination by the school. A couple of years back there was a sudden increase in his myopia and he was quite disappointed that he is missing on a few of the activities because of the spectacles. I was more worried about how to control his myopia.
He loves reading every day before going to sleep but then at times posture is not correct or not proper light. It was quite alarming when his power went up from -1 to -3 which is almost what I have at this age but I started wearing spectacles during my college.
A couple of months back, I went for a media event to W OPTICS SUNTEC CITY which is the brand’s flagship store and was opened in July 2013. It is a 5,000 sq ft optical retail haven that remains the largest vision care store in Singapore till today. You will find all the latest technologies used for eye examinations at this store, as well as a myriad of vision solutions brands to choose from.
We made our first appointment for an eye check for both my hubby and son at W Optics. Even though Aayan is on a regular checkup from his school but needed a detailed one.
In the last few months, I have checked with my friends regarding switching over to myopia control lenses for kids and some of them mentioned how happy they are with the freedom. I am not sure whether you have heard of Ortho-K (Orthokeratology) or OK lens.
We asked Aayan about these lenses initially and he was a bit hesitant or I will say scared to put on something inside his eyes. During our appointment, we have checked with our optometrist about Ortho -K lenses and he suggested that further eye check up details are required to figure out whether Aayan is suitable to wear those lenses or not depending on the condition, power etc.
With my knowledge, I only knew that Ortho-K lenses are worn at night while sleeping unlike the usual contact lenses for vision which I wear during daytime.
Ortho K Journey
You know that once you have myopia there is no cure to it but let me take you all through what exactly is this procedure and hopefully, it can help you.
1. What is orthokeratology?
Orthokeratology or Ortho-K, Cornea Reshaping Therapy(CRT) or OK lens. Basically, these lenses are worn at night when you’re sleeping.
Ortho-K is a non-surgical procedure using customise contact lens to gently shape the curvature of the cornea to improve vision, most wearers will not need to wear glasses during the day when they are on Ortho-K programme. Most are able to achieve 6/6 visual acuity binocularly.
2. Benefits of Ortho-K
Any parent would like to check what the benefit of these ortho K lenses is. These lenses benefit both children as well as adults and the best part is that you can see clearly all day long without the needs of glasses or contact lenses.
For children and those who have progressive myopia worsening year after year. A major benefit is Ortho-K has been shown in various studies to slow down myopia progression significantly. This is another reason why we switched over to Ortho -K lenses to slow down the process.
3. Anyone with myopia can wear Ortho-K lenses?
Our optometrist did a detailed eye checkup to figure out whether Aayan was suitable to wear Ortho-K lenses and also to check any underlying eye disease like Keratoconus where a person is not suitable to wear these lenses. Lifestyle assessment is very crucial too especially for children eg. Hygiene, habits etc
4. Is it Safe to wear by kids?
Ortho-K procedure is approved by FDA. Ortho-K (cornea reshaping) started over 70 years ago. Modern technology in design and production make it a reliable and precise way of safe vision correction.
It does not permanently alter your cornea shape and is reversible once you stop wearing them.
5. Ortho-K treatment procedure?
Orthokeratology is a process that uses customize speciality gas permeable contact lenses to reshape the curvature of the eye to improve vision.
The safe & effective treatment can correct short-sightedness, astigmatism. Most Ortho-K wearers will achieve functional clear vision during waking hours & didn’t feel the need of using any glasses throughout the whole day.
The wearers wear the lenses at night to sleep, in the morning they remove the lens after they woke up. They do not need to wear any glasses to school or to work after that.
Our 2nd appointment
W Optics provides eye examination for all ages. W EYExperience Comprehensive Eye Examination ($80) is a 30-minute eye examination using no less than five clinical-grade equipment to detect a variety of eye conditions, so as to enable optometrists to prescribe the most appropriate corrective lenses or alternative vision solutions.
As for children age 6 and above, there’s W EYExperience Myopia Control Management ($45) to assess and recommend the best treatment program to control the progression of myopia.
In fact, W Optics is the first optical retail chain in Singapore to offer such a comprehensive eye examination, available only at the Suntec City flagship and Great World City stores.
He went for an eye checkup again after wearing lenses.
Don’t worry for the first time your optometrist will help you will the entire process of cleaning, storing, wearing, taking off the lenses.
3rd Appointment
Aayan’s lenses were ready but today he had to practice wearing them on his own and taking them off too. It took him more 2-3 hours to try them as he was too scared to put them.
Practising putting on the lenses!
Removing his lenses with suction
6. Cost of Ortho-K?
Ortho-K lenses range starts anywhere from $1800 up and the lens life is roughly close to 1.5 years to 2 years depending on how good you take care of these lenses. If any scratches on the lenses do see your optometrist.
7. What all do you need every day?
Aayan came back with these sets of solutions – saline, storing solutions, soap cleanser, weekly drop, rewetting drops for eyes. The first set we received from the W optics and for the subsequent one you can purchase from the pharmacy.
Taking proper care of these lenses is very important and no shortcut or skipping any step even if you are feeling tired or sleepy.
4th Appointment – 3rd Sept
It was the very next morning to see how well his eyes have coped up wearing these lenses overnight and to check dryness in the eyes. He got the eyes check up done again to see the status and it worked well for his eyes.
8. What if infection happened?
That is what happened with us on the 3rd day of wearing as Aayan accidentally would have rubbed his eyes while sleeping and due to that one of his lens rolled over towards one end of his eyes. In the morning when he got up to remove his eyes were pretty red. So I called our optometrist to check if this is normal or should we visit him now. He advised me to help Aayan in removing his lens with suction and not to wear the lens for today.
5th Appointment – 7th Sept
We went to W optics again to see his eye condition and it was still red. Aayan skipped wearing his lens for a few days now.
It is a learning stage for him as well as for us and it is taking a fairly long time for him to adjust.
6th Appointment- 22nd Sept
We had a follow up check up and if you are thinking that why so many visits? Just to let you that it is a new experience for kids so optometrist really wants to make sure for initial months how well eyes are adjusting and whether your kid is taking proper care of the lenses.
We have developed an everyday routine now and Aayan is quite happy to see without his glasses again.
If you want to learn and understand more there is a kid’s corner to educate the young ones on myopia management.
Thank you W Optics for this wonderful opportunity to enjoy the freedom again.
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Wow ! That’s really cool. Kids anyways don’t like to wear glasses. I hope Aayan must really enjoying reading with his lense.