Meghan Calfee, 28, had worn glasses and contact lenses since she was 12.

She had waited a long time to have laser surgery, but her vision prescription kept changing every year and she wasn’t accepted as a candidate. She got so frustrated with waiting that in September 2010, she decided to try gentle molding therapy, a procedure that reshapes the cornea.

“All of my problems were solved, as if by magic. I sleep with Ortho-K lenses, I remove them in the morning, and I can see perfectly the entire day,” says Meghan, a psychologist and an athlete. “I jog, ride my bike, swim, and I no longer have the problem of sweat getting in my eyes and having to stop my exercises to clean my lenses.”

Ortho-K lenses are designed to mold the shape of the cornea. When the cornea’s curvature is reshaped, the resulting flattening can be enough to compensate for myopia, or nearsightedness, as in Meghan’s case. This allows good vision without wearing glasses or contact lenses during waking hours; the lenses reshape the cornea while the person sleeps.

Growing in use

The first time Dr. David Roth heard of orthokeratology — the science of reshaping the cornea’s curvature — he was a student at the Illinois College of Optometry in the 1980s, when there were only a few doctors in the United States practicing the treatment.

“In the ‘60s and ‘70s, airline pilots were required to have 20-20 vision to obtain their licenses. They would use the Ortho-K lenses to reshape the cornea, then remove them to take the tests. This method allowed them to have 20-20 vision for the next 12 hours,” Roth said. “I found this to be a fascinating process. It was like having a retainer, but instead of in your teeth, in your cornea.”

He said that since the 1990s, with more modern technology, new materials and FDA approval, the lenses are generally used for sleeping.

Orthokeratology, a subspecialty under contactology, is a method that adapts gas-permeable contact lenses to temporarily reduce vision defects such as myopia and astigmatism. This system does not permanently correct the vision — it is only a temporary therapy. The effect lasts from 18 to 24 hours, and up to two days in people who do not have a high prescription.

“I discovered that this therapy also prevents children’s vision from getting worse,” Roth said. “Children adapt better to Ortho-K lenses than adults because their eyes are not yet so sensitive.”

He adds that myopia has three possible causes. It can be hereditary, caused by excessive reading, or using a computer for a prolonged time. The patient not having sufficient external stimulation can also be a factor.

“When a child hardly ever leaves the house, as is now often the case, they become even more myopic and will need a stronger prescription every year to be able to direct more light to the back of the eye,” Roth said. “The Ortho-K lenses stop the eye’s elongation. This was discovered only three years ago. During the 1980s and 1990s, we didn’t know why the myopia process stopped.”

The doctor says that people with very high prescriptions, whose eyes are more elongated, are five times more susceptible to having a detached retina than those with shorter eyes. “Preventing the elongation of the eye in children can avoid the risk of a future detached retina,” Roth said.