tarjan

Since the late 80s or early 90s. Of course it is going up against Lasik, which doesn't require any continual care. Of course it is permanent and OK (Ortho-k or Orthokeretology) are temporary so it isn't going to win in a public advertisement situation.

Who offered this to you as a treatment?

I went looking online for information on RGP contacts as I have dry eyes and regular contacts don't work for more than 6-7 hours before getting blurry. I saw something about OK and it intrigued me. Called up a local ophthalmologist and asked if he knew about it. He directed me to someone who did. We went over the details and he thought I would be a prime candidate.

-1.75 and -2.5 with a slight astigmatism in the eye needing a lower correction. OK is good up to -4 in most people, and -6 if you can deal with a small correction zone.

How much:

Well this depends. The first doctor was 1200. Unfortunately for me, it didn't go well. I had GREAT vision in bright light, but it sucked otherwise. We went to progressively larger correction zones, then to experimental designs. Nothing got me acceptable night vision so I dropped the idea and went back to glasses.

A year later I had gone through trying to use regular RGP contacts but discovered my eyes really stay too dry even for them. Sucked, so I went back to thinking about OK. Found another doctor who used much more advanced equipment and hearing my story he agreed to see if he could help me out.

Close but no cigar with him either. He had the right technology but was missing some of the knowledge. Basically the fitting is a bit of knowledge mixed with magic. What some consider to be "proper" fit is completely wrong.

Third doctor cost be about 2k, he knew what he was doing top to bottom. Listened to my concerns and used a system called wave to design me a pair of lenses that are extremely accurately mapped to my eyes. We went through a few pairs to make it the best it can be and he used his corneal topographer to measure my eyes for the changes and the effects properly. (this just means he DIDN'T have me wear my lenses after I woke up, I put them on immediately before bed, then immediately out in the morning then go and have him scan my eyes absolutely first thing in the morning. When your eyes are open the contacts move around more and won't fit the same as when you are asleep, which harms vision and distorts results)

Eyesight the next day:

99% of the time it is 20/20 or better. The 1% is when my eyes get really dry. If that happens the contacts will stick to my eyes and "correct" in the wrong position. Gives me double vision the next day. This is what the first and second doctor got wrong, they thought that the contacts remaining mobile was an issue and they were completely wrong. They don't move much, but they should ride on a fluid layer and never the actual epithelial layer.

That being said, night vision for me will never be great, and it would be worse with lasik. I just have large pupils or some other issue that the doctors don't really understand. I can see perfectly fine at night, but lights starburst which can be really annoying.

Legally, in most states, the doctor must provide you your prescription for glasses or contacts. The only case where this may be a bit fudged is if the doctor did not fit you in a pair of contacts. Basically they need to get you in trial lenses for some amount of time (more than a few minutes) and see how your eyes have reacted in a few days wear time. Then, and only then, is your prescription considered "done" and you can get a copy.

I wish. That would be super awesome.

Dollar: Just because I have bad luck with certain types of medical procedures. I'm always looked at as "perfectly normal" then.. not. When the doctor did some looking at my eyes they did a picture and a scan of the back of my eye.

It is disconcerting when you here "Hey, go get Dr jones, i want her to look at this." In the end I am fine, but some structures aren't laid out the way most people are.

When I had braces, they would correct my teeth the wrong way. Had to use very, very strong ones to get it all to work.

etc

In the end I am glad because the starbursting would probably have been there and even worse with regular lasik.

My pleasure. If anyone is in the NoVa/DC/MD area I can point you at someone If you are elsewhere, ortho-k.net can help you find a doc. If you think you have "difficult" eyes, wave might work as well. Wavecontactlenses.com to get to them.

I have no connection to either one, nor the doctor I'll suggest. The wave page does have some interesting videos on it about how they create lenses, and used to have some interesting info in the doctors section about how what they should be looking at. You could get to it by google searching, some of the links were exposed.

Ahh fluorescein dye. Then the slit lamps etc. Been there many, many times.

So here is the deal, you wore them because they were trying to hault the change in your eyes over the years, hence wearing them during the day. That is not why or when I wear mine. I only wear them at night, never during the day at all so your issues just don't map to mine. My guess, based on what you said, is that they were fit improperly or your eyes had changed enough that the fit was no longer appropriate.

I say this because of them getting stuck to your eyes. Mine do, occasionally, but it means my eyes dried out. It should NOT happen regularly.

Close the sink drain and put a towel down in there. Another thing is to get a small mirror, put that on the towel in the sink bowl and then take the contact out while looking down.

Before removing, push in a tiny bit on your sclera (on your eyelid, not the eyeball) under the contact to get it to break free. That will induce fluid into the underside of the lens. Never had any problems once I started doing that even when stuck.

Yep, use the DMTs all the time. I recommend a better doctor.

As for regretting, there are times. It isn't often, but when I am tired and just dont want to have to deal with it or when I am flying on long (20+hr) flights it kind of sucks. You can't put them in on the plane, too dry. 99.999% of the rest of the time I love them.