KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

qiqimi wrote:

Anfield wrote:Exactly a year from my last post in this thread, and a year of terribly fast progression (100 to 300) in my son's myopia, tonight is his first night on Ortho K lenses from Stan Isaacs.

Hopefully it works well.

Great! Keep us of posted of your son's ortho k development.

He's been on them just over a month now, and his eyesight is greatly improved, and seems close to perfect in the mornings after wearing them overnight.

We were thinking of letting his eyes rest on Sunday nights (not to mention it's harder to wake him on a Monday morning) but the good eyesight does not seem to persist for more than 12 hours for him so it's nightly use for him.

It is way too early to tell if the lenses are doing well in retarding the progression of his myopia, but the convenience of not wearing glasses is a plus for him.

He doesn't enjoy the ritual of having them put on nightly, or removed in the morning. Neither do we for that matter. He's still afraid of opening his eyes wide for us to put the lenses on.

Still consider it preferable to using eye drops for the next 15 over years assuming no major incidents occur.

Any idea if ortho-k can correct presbyopia?

HI all
I'm very interested to try Ortho K for my 7 year old son but is afraid of him rubbing his eyes during sleep and injuring his cornea. He is currently on atropine but it doesn't seem to help him much. His degree has increased a alot since he was diagnosed at end of K1. It's very frightening and stressful for me as he can easily go to 1k if uncontrolled. Would appreciate any feedback or advice on Ortho K. Also I'm looking to try out at Stan Isaac. Thanks in advance for any replies.

My son who is in P6 has been on Ortho-K for 1 year now. Its fantastic, degree did not increase at all. Before this, his degree will go up 50 deg every few months. We tried atrophine prescribed by National Eye Centre but during those 6 months,his degree went up 100 deg!

When we went back to SNEC after trying Ortho-K for a few months, the doc was very supportive. I asked why SNEC does not advise parents of the Ortho-K option as a means of controlling myopia, she did not answer directly. She said internally there were discussions and she has seen many success stories of Ortho-K but also cases of eye infection caused by Ortho-K. She asked that I write in which might help persuade SNEC 'endorse' Ortho-K.

Our experience with Ortho-K is very positive. My son's lens are fitted out at Titus Eyecare. He was taught from day 1 to put in and take out the lens daily. It became a routine and it takes him only a few seconds. No trouble at all. We follow the cleaning instructions dutifully and no problems with infection whatsoever. We also bring it along together with cleaning solutions when we travel.

Sharing this so that parents with kids of rapidly increasing myopia can consider this option.

Hi Musings,

Thanks so much for your reply. It gave me a vote of confidence to try it soon. I love the fact that his degree didn't increase over the past year. U must be overjoyed.
I told hubby we will give Atropine 3 more months and if degree still continues to go up, we will switch to Ortho K.

Does your son has any problems with eye rubbing? How do you settle the interim degree difference?

I'm also worried my son will find the lenses too uncomfortable. Haiz... alot of uncertainties but I know I may have to embark on this Ortho K journey. Hope to hear more feedback from other parents and thanks once again for ur reply and assurance.

Hi fugitlah

No worries, was in your position 1 year ago and I can understand the anxiety since yr child is so young. My advice is get your child to put on n remove lens all by himself from the start. It was v tempting to shortcut the learning curve n just help the child with some aspects of it. But in the long run, it isn't sustainable n the child becomes reliant on the parents.

Apparently, rubbing eyes with the lens in there is not as big a problem as we think. A little rubbing is ok - thats what Titus told us - I cannot recall the exact explanation. I know my son does rub a bit but his cornea is fine. And I became less uptight over time.

During first week when the eye is slowing adjusting, he was given a pair of adjustable glasses which can be adjusted to his degrees that day. He wore that to school n everywhere. By the 4th or 5th day, he had perfect vision n didn't need it. He still uses the adjustable glasses on days when he didn't use Ortho K the night before.

My only concern is when he goes to secondary school n may go for overnight camps, although can bring lens along, keeping everything clean n putting the lens on in such environment may b challenging. I guess will hav to cross the bridge when we come to that.

Hi Musings,

Thanks and I will heed your advice to let him do everything himself under my supervision. My only hope is that it will really really slow down his progression and best halt it like what your son is experiencing now.

Do not worry abt the camp. I think he will have ample time to clean the lenses and put it on. Most importantly, he will be old enough to know the importance of clean lenses.

Thanks again for your replies. Do let me know if u come across other positive feedbacks from your friends.

Hi Musings,

A quick question. Did you stop Atropine before the assessment for Ortho k? Btw, we will be seeing Titus middle of May.

Hi fugit, I think I replied to your pm. Luckily I had an email notification for that cos I hardly come to these forums.

Eye rubbing, especially in his sleep was also a concern but in the 9 months since we started, it has been a non issue.

I think his myopia progression has slowed, but I'm not totally sure. Can you other parents advise on what you do to check that out? Do you stop them wearing the lenses long enough so as to test their uncorrected vision?

We are still putting on and removing the lenses for our boy. 9 this year but we plan on getting him started when he actually turns 9 closer the end of the year.

So far no incident of infection which was always my main worry.

Atropine was never ever under consideration because I was never gonna allow 15 years of daily eye medication.

Definitely no regrets so far opting for ortho k.

We went down to Titus Eye Care today for a trial and assessment of suitability for OrthoK. My P5 daughter tolerated the lens well and she wore it for 30 min or so.

Titus is professional and he isn't pushy at all. There will be risks of infection for any contact lens wearers but this can be minimized with good hygiene. Atropine 0.01% is bot controlling the myopia progression sufficiently and hence we are now moving on to OrthoK. Also I think at this age the kids are better able to handle the wearing and removing of lens themselves.

Looking forward to receiving the lens within 2 weeks and let's see how long it takes for the vision correction to be effected and whether the correction can achieve 6/6 in the day time.