More BrandsMost people reach middle age with an impairment in near vision. This condition is known as presbyopia and requires wearing bifocals or reading glasses. However, there may be an alternative way to restore near vision, as demonstrated by the results of a new study. Drs Paul Gifford and Helen A Swarbrick of Sydney-based University of New South Wales have established that it can be achieved through a new technique called hyperopic orthokeratology (OK).
Gifford and Swarbrick conducted their study on 16 patients aged between 43 and 59. The duo tested a “monocular” technique, meaning that subjects were asked to wear a custom-made OK lens in one eye. They had to wear it every night over the course of one week. For the purpose of preserving normal distance vision, the researchers did not treat the other eye. The monocular OK technique produced positive results for each and every patient, with the treated eye regaining near vision. The presbyopes reported an improvement after the first night of OK lens wear and the results got progressively better over the course of the treatment. The OK lenses did their job by altering the shape of the cornea, which is what they were designed to achieve. In order to retain their corrected vision, the patients had to wear the lenses every night.
Overnight OK is not a new technique but it has mostly been used to reduce myopia, or nearsightedness, in younger patients. The Australian study demonstrates that it can also be an effective solution in the case of presbyopic older patients, correcting their near vision by changing corneal shape.
