beeb:Hi,
Anyone's kid(s) using/used the Ortho-K lenses or Atropine eye solution to control myopia? Any advises?
My 9 year old son's myopic reading is going on a worrying increase of average 200 degree increase in about 6mths!!! Search the web on myopia control programs and read about Ortho-K lenses and Atropine eye solution. Not sure about the results and am concern as these programs are not cheap at all... hai....my husband and I are at our wits at what more we can help our son to fight this battle....
Any advise/info from parents with the same concern??
Hi,
I've just put my P2 son on the Ortho-K program last week as a result of parents sharing in this forum. Recently, my son came back fr sch with a letter fr HPB to get his eyes checked - that's when i came to ksp forum to look for some answers. And i'm really thankful for all the sharing of real hands-on expereinces that lead me to find out more about the solutions available to curb myopia nowadays.
I am super myopic. When i first started wearing glasses at P3, i was already @ 300 dg!! So from then on, every time i visited the optician, my myopia would increase and i must say, it was really stressful in those hard financial times, and kena scolding for not taking care of my eyes (i wondered why it became my fault that it kept increasing?!!) and wondering if i might really go blind one day!! Now i know why. It is inevitable coz as long as we are growing, our eyeballs will keep growing too, so the spectacle lens will have to change too! Just like now, as we age, our eye muscles will lapse, so we will end up being lao hua!
From a visit to the optrometrist that's being recommended here, i understand that there are 4 methods to somehow 'control' myopia.
Besides Ortho-K, there's the Atropine eye-drop (feedback of not being very effective and also cornea infection), then there's special brand of specs lens (which controls 30%) and of course, the normal spectacles (most common).
So among the 4 choices, I chose Ortho-K coz i suppose it's the most effective (controls 70% according to the optrometrist and positive reviews from parents). Yes, and of couse it is also the most expensive solution - coz the lens supposedly can last 2-3 yrs before the need to change depending on individual).
The most challenging part for us is putting on the lens every night and taking them out in the mornings. We've just tried it once only anyway. Wasn't a very pleasant experience to begin with coz he kept blinking his eyes when i tried to put the lens in. Imagine putting eye drop can be a struggle with our kids, what more when you have to put the lens in. And coz it is the first time he felt something in his eye, he started crying, uncomfortable la, itching la, tearing .. big meltdown .. sigh... The next morning, taking out could be even more challenging .. Doesn't help that my son has small but thick eyelids like me.
As my son was having exams this week, i do not want to subject him to unnecessary anxiety. We intend to start the routine next week to get him used to it and right through the June hols when we are more free to visit the optometrist for review. Have to tell him no choice, he has to co-operate and make this work coz we have already spent so much and decided upon this together. You need to be very clear what's your ultimate objective. For me, it is to delay/avoid letting my son wear spectacles altogether esp when he's still so young. He has many years of schooling ahead. I want to start him young since his degree is still low, crossing my fingers it will reduce, if not maintain, as long as possible.
IMHO, Ortho K will be suitable for older kids for maturity in handling the routine. However, if you start them young when their degrees are low, i believe it is more effective to control their myopia rather than to face the stress of increasing degrees every year. The parents are right to say that in urban and developed Singapore, extremely rare to prevent myopia coz which sch going kid is not subject to near work like reading or computer work on a daily basis?? If not now, maybe later. The challenge is, if they are already myopic, is to control their myopia degree up to the age of 18-21 perhaps when they can choose other options like contact lens or lazik. By then, let's hope there is really a convenient cure
