Preventative Eye Care

I recently published this case study in Contact Lens Spectrum:

Contact Lens Spectrum : October 2023 Specialty Lens Supplement (clspectrum.com)

The patient in this case study is my son. He was born with a congenital ptosis in his left eye which induced a lazy eye by the time he was 3 months old. I have spent the last decade trying to prevent his vision from getting worse from his congenital ptosis. And that is why I care so much about preventative eye care. Because if I didn’t, my son would have gone blind in his left eye.

To correct my son’s prescription as well as prevent it from getting worse, I designed trans-limbal orthokeratology contact lenses that he wears while he sleeps. He takes the contact lens off in the morning when he wakes up and can see without the need for corrective glasses or contacts during the day. The lenses also behave like braces or a retainer for his eyes, preventing his prescription from getting worse.

I also designed similar orthokeratology lenses for my other children, ages 5 and 8, in the hopes of preventing them from ever developing a prescription. At their age (under 12), they should be hyperopic (+0.75 D). Instead, they are pre-myopic (+0.75 to -0.25 D).

Kids are supposed to be hyperopic with a plus powered prescription (+0.75 D) under they are 12, and then their prescriptions are supposed to zero out. However, because our modern lifestyles involve increased near work (screen time) and decreased time spent outdoors looking far away, more and more kids have pre-myopia, myopia, and even high myopia. If we don’t use our distance vision, we lose it! And 60% of US are expected to be myopic and lose their distance vision by the year 2050.

So being proactive, I have 2 of my children in overnight orthokeratology retainer molds in an effort to prevent them from becoming part of the 60% of the US population expected to myopic by 2050.