It was at the start of Primary 4 last year when my daughter first said those dreaded words: “Mummy, I can’t see the whiteboard clearly…” I received the news with no small amount of resignation. As a parent in...
It was at the start of Primary 4 last year when my daughter first said those dreaded words: “Mummy, I can’t see the whiteboard clearly…”
I received the news with no small amount of resignation. As a parent in Singapore, where the rates of myopia area among the highest in the world, it does feel almost unavoidable that children eventually end up myopic. The increase in the amount of online learning for children since the start of the pandemic in 2020, with its corresponding increase in screen time has not helped matters. I was dismayed that despite my best efforts, another of my kids had ended up myopic before they were done with Primary school.
We went ahead to get her fitted out with spectacles while reminding her to take better care of her eyes. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there. By June, about 3 months later, she said she couldn’t see again even with her specs on! By the end of the year when we checked again, her eyesight had deteriorated to -2.00 degrees just in 1 year! 
We had to do something to stem the steady worsening of her eyesight.
After considering our options, I decided to start her on something that had worked well for Noey over the past few years: Ortho-K night lenses.
Orthokerotology (Ortho-K, in short) is a non-surgical procedure whereby the cornea is temporarily reshaped by the wearing of overnight custom-designed gas permeable lenses. Upon waking up, the lenses are removed and the wearer has corrected vision for the rest of the day. This effect is fully reversible and the cornea will revert back to its original shape, usually within days after you stop wearing the lenses.
Aside from the freedom from spectacles, one of the benefits of Ortho-K night lenses is that it has shown to slow down the progress of myopia. I’ve seen this first hand with Noey. Since he first started on Ortho-K in 2018, Noey’s eyesight has actually stablised and not deteriorated. He started on Ortho-K night lenses when his power was relatively low and it has, incredibly, stayed that way the past 4 years despite my son being quite the bookworm, and the increase in e-learning in his daily life as a Secondary school student. Having had this success with Noey, I am hopeful that Mei would have the same positive experience and put a stop to her worsening eyesight.
I brought Mei down to W OPTICS Great World for a consult and she was put through an Ortho-K night lens suitability assessment to confirm that she was suitable for the treatment. For this, her eyesight as well as the condition of her corneas and general eye health were checked. I appreciated how thorough the assessment by W OPTICS was, given that Ortho-K is quite a big commitment. After she was given the green light and we decided to proceed with the treatment, it took 3-4 weeks for the lenses to be customised for Mei.
When it was time for Mei to be fitted the lenses, we were walked through the whole process step by step. She was taught how to care and maintain her lenses, the importance of good hygiene, and also how to put them on and take them off safely. I was worried that she would struggle with wearing the lenses but thankfully the whole process went quite uneventfully. She managed to put the lenses on herself and needed minimal help back home. Once we started on the lenses, it only took her a couple of days before she was having perfect vision after overnight wear.
There is a whole series of check-ups which come with the Ortho-K package with close monitoring each time starting from the day after the fitting, to 1 week, 1 month, 3 months after the fitting, then stretching out to 6-monthly sessions. Each time we go back, her attending optometrist would check her eyesight, eye health, the fit of the lenses, the corneal reshaping effect and the condition of the lenses. All this to say that we’re being pretty well taken care of, something that I’m grateful for!
It’s been more than 3 months since Mei’s been on Ortho-K and I’m happy to report that her eyesight seems to have stabilised for now. Compared to the constant worsening that she was experiencing last year, this is certainly good news! She did struggle with some discomfort from having to wear the lenses overnight initially, more than her brother did previously, but this has eased somewhat over time. I think she agrees with me that the overall benefit of being spectacles-free throughout the day, plus the fact that her eyesight is not not getting worse outweighs the inconveniences!
Ortho-K night lens is available at selected W OPTICS Myopia Centres. Videre is now part of W OPTICS Group. Do make an appointment with them for a consult if you are interested to find out more.
W OPTICS @ Great World (6733 5665)
W OPTICS @ Suntec City (6736 1303)
W OPTICS @ The Centrepoint (6219 3656)
W OPTICS @ Forum The Shopping Mall (6369 0041)
W OPTICS @ Marina Square (6250 0328).
Open daily till 830pm (most other centres close by 5pm and not open on weekends)
W OPTICS
Great World City #02-22 Singapore
Website: https://woptics.sg
Store locator: https://bit.ly/wStores
Download W OPTICS mobile app to book an appointment today. Available on both Apple App and Google Play store.
*This post was brought to you in conjunction with W Optics