FAQ: CRT - Corneal Refractive Therapy
Non-Surgical vision improvement, FDA Approved for children and adults.
What is CRT/Orthokeratology and why haven't I ever heard about such a procedure before?
Orthokeratology (Ortho-K) is a non surgical therapy that's been around for over 30 years. It reduces or eliminates nearsightedness temporarily and makes one less dependent on glasses or contacts for activities. There's not a lot of advertising or infomercials on it since a million dollar piece of machinery is not needed in a practitioner's office to fit them. In the past numerous anecdotal studies where performed that never clearly defined the art and might have cast a negative shadow on orthok. At this time flatter and flatter OP or even hard lenses were worn during the daytime over many months to years to flatten the central cornea and make one less nearsighted. This was done on many pilots in the 60's through the 80's. The lenses were uncomfortable and only afforded people a few hours of acceptable vision before they would have to wear them again. During the 1990's computerized lathes began to surface which got rid of the human error factor in making these appliances and a specialized design of OP lens, reverse geometry, surfaced as well atop the emergence of very highly permeable materials. These all were put together for a properly screened individual to wear the appliance only while sleeping so during waking hours they would eventually wear nothing. This new therapy which goes by many names such as advanced/accelerated Orthokeratology, corneal molding therapy, and Corneal Refractive Therapy works within days to weeks, is totally reversible and is for children and adults. Understand that Orthokeratology works on some nearsighted people and glasses may still be needed for certain activities. Retainer appliances will need to be worn on a regular basis at night.
What is Orthokeratology (corneal molding therapy)?
This is the non-surgical correction of nearsightedness that uses reverse geometry oxygen permeable contact lenses to mold the central cornea to a flatter curve. This molding will lessen the power of the eye and therefore reduce nearsightedness and your dependency on glasses or contacts.
Reverse geometry lenses are firm oxygen permeable contacts that contain a flat central or base curve compared to corneal curve measurements. Regular rigid oxygen permeable lenses are usually fit on or aligned with the corneal curve measurement. Varying powers can be corrected but the lesser the myopia the greater the likelihood of better than 20/40 uncorrected visual acuity.
These lenses can be worn overnight allowing 10-18 hours of functional vision during waking hours.
What is CRT?
CRT stands for Corneal Refractive Therapy a.k.a. Orthokeratology. It's a non-surgical vision improvement therapy program which uses a special type of contact lens(appliance) that flattens the front surface of your eye over time and makes you less nearsighted. The eventual goal of CRT is to allow you to have functional vision throughout your waking hours. In order to maintain the results you will need to maintain nightwear of the appliances.
What does the treatment process involve?
Your therapy program includes one year of services and products including the final "retainer" pair of appliances. Next year and after do I need to go through all of this again and pay the same amount as the initial therapy? No, a retainer lens program (~1/3 the initial therapy price) takes over which will be split up into quarterly or less office visits and will include your normal follow up tests and one full exam a year. Here we'll be able to closely maintain the results achieved previously and make adjustments to the fitting relationship before it affects your vision in a negative way. Due to wear and tear and your eyes changing maps and prescriptions, appliances even retentive ones will need to be altered from time to time.
Where can I find more information about Orthokeratology?
Click HERE to read more about Corneal Refractive Therapy (Ortho-K) and to watch a 60 second video about Paragon CRT - the leader in Corneal Refractive Therapy technology.
For more information on Corneal Refractive Therapy visit
www.ortho-k.net or simply click here: ortho-k.net
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