Over the years, whether the network or the jungle, the rumors of OK mirror is extremely prevalent, some boast of the miraculous, can cure myopia, never rebound; and some criticism, accusations, said it will trigger eye infection, so that the eyes blind …… In today’s era of information flooding, we are not lacking in news, not lacking in controversy, only lacking in a pair of eyes to distinguish right from wrong. As a professional optometrist, and as an insider who has been in contact with OK lenses for more than 10 years, I would like to talk about my views to help you distinguish right from wrong. OK lenses, the full name: Orthokeratology (keratoplasty), foreign abbreviations Ortho K, the domestic translation for “keratomileusis”, or “keratoplasty technology”. In fact, it has several other names, such as MCT, CRT, but in fact, they all say the same thing. OK lenses are a type of contact lens. Contact lenses can be divided into two categories, one is soft contact lens (soft contact lens), there are familiar brands such as Johnson & Johnson, Dr. Lund, Visioncon, etc.. There is another type of hard gas permeable contact lens – RGP (Rigid Gas Permeable contact lens. RGP), these contact lenses need to be personalized, professional and targeted, and can only be fitted in professional institutions, so they are not yet well known by the general public. RGP can be divided into “day wear” and “night wear” according to the wearing time, and OK lenses belong to the “night wear” type of RGP. The full name of CRT: Corneal Refractive Therapy (CRT), and Orthokeratology have similarities, in fact, they are talking about the same thing. As for MCT (Myopia Corneal Therapy) digital keratoplasty technology, it is a completely commercialized new term, there seems to be no such term abroad, and it is jointly proposed by Furen Ophthalmology and Weber Optometry in China. the fitting concept of MCT promotes completely digital customization, based on the corneal surface morphology, the examination process is not tried on, and the customized lens is treated as the first “If an abnormality is found, the lens is adjusted on the basis of the first lens. The advantages of this type of fitting: the fitting is fast, convenient and popular, and to some extent reduces the technical threshold of fitting, but the disadvantages are quite obvious, because the fitting step is omitted and the eyelid pressure is not taken into account, the success rate of one fitting is only about 80%. In contrast, the traditional examination and fitting method takes longer, but can increase the success rate to over 95%. After the above explanation, do you have some idea about the various strange names on the Internet? Now, let’s go one step further and discuss a very difficult and heated topic: “Is it good for children to wear OK lenses?” I am a doctor. In fact, as a doctor, I am quite disgusted by such simple and “brutal” questions, I heard something like “Doctor, do you think myopia laser surgery is good? “How can I control myopia in my child?” “What should I eat to protect my eyes?” This kind of “open-ended” big question is always very crazy, not a word or two can be said clearly hey, if I know how to make children do not myopia, has become a world celebrity, right. However, today, we will sit down and patiently give you an analysis of wearing OK lenses or not! There are two sides to everything, there is no absolute safety and absolute danger. Everyday life, even crossing the street can be risky, what about wearing glasses? Maybe you will hurt your nose when you fall, or damage your eyes when you break your glasses, what about wearing OK lenses? There will be a risk of complications from contact lenses! The key to measuring whether a choice is the right one is to weigh the pros and cons and the gains and losses. Everyone has different circumstances, so there is no fixed answer as to whether it is good or bad. The first is that you don’t have to wear glasses during the day, your vision is clear and convenient, and the second is that long-term wear can slow down the rate of myopia deepening, (note: it’s “slowing myopia deepening”, not stopping it completely, not curing the original myopia). The same, wearing OK lenses also has disadvantages, first of all, the cost is expensive. Secondly, parents need to spend more energy to pay attention to the wearing, cleaning and review of their children’s lenses. Lastly, and most worryingly, there is a risk of corneal inflammation. If readers have the heart to search the previous news from the Internet, they may still find some negative news about OK lenses, including corneal infections, restrictions and rectification regulations of the National Food Sanitation Supervision Bureau, etc. Those are specific products of a specific historical period, when there were multiple reasons for those problems. Now, with the innovation of technology and the comprehensive understanding of OK lenses, these risks have been controlled lower and lower. Foreign data shows that today’s corneal shaping technology can control the risk of corneal complications to only one-fifth of that of ordinary soft contact lenses, which means that they are five times safer than contact lenses worn by adults. In addition, OK lens care solutions and disinfectant drops are now made more professionally, parents are becoming more aware of safety and hygiene, and doctors and professionals are improving their fitting standards, so everything is moving in the right direction. On the other hand, the effect of OK lenses on the control of myopia development is really significant, foreign data show that it can slow down the rate of myopia deepening in children by half, on my experience over the years, it seems to be more than half, especially for children with low prescription, the effect is more obvious. So back to the beginning of the question, wear OK lenses or not? I think that if the child’s myopia has been deepening, for example: 50 to 100 degrees of deterioration per year, the child itself is not particularly reluctant to wear OK lenses, can cooperate with wearing, no acute or chronic ocular surface diseases, professional examination and trial wear shows that the fit is good, parents know and understand this technology, have some financial ability, and can follow the prescribed time review and follow-up, wearing OK lenses for children The advantages of wearing OK lenses for children should outweigh the disadvantages and be recommended. However, there is a widely circulated statement – “Does wearing OK lenses for a long time make the cornea thinner”? This statement still comes from a relatively specialized field, and even some ophthalmologists themselves think so, so I would like to explain it to you here. The predecessor of this proposition does not refer specifically to OK lenses, but rather to “wearing contact lenses for a long time will make the cornea thinner”! The source of the conclusion should be the examination before myopia surgery. When I was in graduate school ten years ago, I used to be a pre-surgery examiner for excimer laser surgery, and sometimes when I found that a patient’s cornea was thin, I would ask, “Have you ever worn contact lenses?” If the answer is: “Yes, and for many years”, at this point, I would say: “Oh, your current corneal thickness is relatively thin, myopic laser surgery can not completely finish your existing degree, your thin corneal thickness may be related to so many years of wearing contact lenses “. Later, after so many years of doctors doing it, I found that kind of statement at that time was somewhat irresponsible. The average corneal thickness of about 550μm (0.55mm), but the corneal thickness is born, itself there is no good or bad, just like the height, body fat and thin, there is both reason, since it is the average, that the population has a high and low corneal thickness, thick to 600 +μm, thin only 400 +μm, the patient’s corneal thickness is thin, it happens to have worn contact lenses, it is concluded that The conclusion that long-term contact lens wear can make the cornea thinner is not rigorous. There may be a correlation between the two, but not cause and effect. I have measured the thickness of my cornea before I wore OK lenses for many years, and I have not noticed a trend of thinning thickness during my annual follow-up visits. The corneal thickness is only about half a millimeter, so the accuracy of the measurement is very high, and the measuring instruments on the market include: A ultrasound, Orbscan II, pentacam and corneal endothelial cell counter, etc. The repeatability of the measurement is not the most satisfactory, and it is very normal for several measurements to differ by a few microns or even one to twenty microns. In contrast, the corneal thickness thinning proposed by some people, which thins by up to a few microns per year, is subject to a great deal of uncertainty in measurement. Furthermore, similar studies have been done overseas on this issue, but at the time they were on soft contact lenses, and there was insufficient evidence to support the assertion that wearing contact lenses thins the cornea. OK lenses are a double-edged sword that can be used for me, but they also carry a risk of injury, but as the profession develops and people become more aware, their advantages become more and more obvious. Nowadays, we have the confidence and ability to minimize its dangerous side, and its role in controlling the progression of myopia is irreplaceable and is currently the most effective means of myopia control. For children whose myopia has been increasing, OK lenses are recommended, but remember that it is important to choose a professional eye care institution with a professional ophthalmologist.