Exposing the LASIK Scam

Had my first orthok fitting today at my University opiticians. The initial pain was quite excrutiating as my eyes weeped uncontrollably but it soon died down as my eye lids got used to the hard foreign body. Due to my low prescription (1.25 in both eyes) I shouldn't need more than one pair. The lenses fitted really well as opposed to the CRT ones which I tried out a few years earlier. Tonight will be the first night that I wear them to sleep and I am not supposed to take them out until the follow-up consultation tomorrow at 9 o'clock. Initial cost was ?50 (about $90 I think) and will cost me ?35 per month. This includes further pairs of lenses if the current ones don't work properly.

Thanks for telling us about your experiences. I was interested in Ortho K until I read that the best results are for those people with under -4.00. My eyes are -5.50 and -6.00 so unfortunately I don't think I would get good results.

Just thought I'd make an update on my ortho-k progress even though I should be revising on my exams instead. I'm now on my third pair of lenses and have been told that I have reached an optimal fitting. Though Im going to miss the excitement of collecting my next pair of lenses and taking them home to see how well they fit, its good to finally achieve a stable result. Currently the results of the ortho-k treatment vary from day to day. Sometimes I'll wake up with centered lenses which I can take off straight away and achieve good results. Sometimes Im not so lucky and have to keep them in after I wake up for about half an hour more. I'd say that I have achieved an average 20/20 vision though.

One thing that still bothers me is the night vision. I experience quite a lot of starbursting/halos which impede my night driving ability (not that I can actually drive yet) and I'm wondering if there is any way to remedy these problems bearing in mind the fact that my current pair of lenses were specifically altered from the original in order to solve these problems. Any adivice is highly appreciated

Ask your Optometrist what size optical zone is being corrected by your Ortho-K lenses. Is your maximum pupil size in the dark smaller than this optical zone? If not, ask for a larger optical zone of correction in your lenses and see if this helps.

Lucky for you, you didn't have any correction permanently lasered into your eye and if you don't like the effects of the Otho-K lenses you can just stop wearing them. You are very VERY lucky. Stay away from lasers, unless you want to remove a tatoo or some unwanted hair...

Thanks for the reply Scientist and yes I do know that I am lucky not to have fallen into the trap of refractive surgery though the reason why I ended up trying ortho-k again was actually due to a recent interest in getting laser eye surgery. Thankfully after the information provided on this forum as well as other sources I avoided making that decision.

During my first consultation at a very cheap and cheerful and utterly unscrupulous clinic by the name of Vision Express I was told that I was an excellent candidate for both Lasik AND LASEK with the only difference being that "with Lasek, patients heal slower" despite the fact that I have a corneal thickness of around 500 microns in both eyes and large pupils at around 7.5mm in diameter which i didnt find out until getting a second opinion at a different clinic. Oh and did I mention that I'm eighteen so my prescription is likely to change within the next few years? I was then pressured into signing an agreement to have the surgery performed in August which I declined (the financial advisor phoned me up a few days later trying to convince me to schedule the operation).

Regarding the ortho-k lenses I haven't asked them exactly how large the optical zone actually is though I did inform them of my maximum pupil size as well as the glare/halo issues that I've been having.

Again thanks for the speedy reply and for opening my eyes to the inexcusable damage that often results from laser eye surgery.

After waiting for a few issues in my life to settle down so I would have the time to do this, I am finally starting my Ortho-K adventure.

Although I tried soft contacts years ago, I suffered from dry eye and never really liked them. I am -2.25 and -3.0 with a very minor astigmatism, and have large pupils and despite all of this, the LASIK people said I would be a good candidate. I stumbled across Ortho-K whilst doing research on LASIK and am so glad I did! The Ortho-K guy I chose is about an hour away (near London), and my total cost for the first year is ?800 if I am a suitable candidate.

He did the initial exam and sent me home with a pair of lenses that I wore for 1 hour last night and 1 hour this evening. Tomorrow night I am supposed to sleep in them, and then drive in to the office wearing them. I am hoping this goes OK since I do not have anyone else to drive me.

He told me the first night might be uncomfortable and that the best thing to do would be to take a walk since the fresh air seems to help as well as looking down. Of course it was raining but I went anyway. It felt like I had grit in my eyes, but by the end of the hour, I had adjusted a bit. I woke up this morning with mucus goobers in my eyes, and my right eye felt a lot drier than usual at work today.

Getting them in tonight was harder than last night and they still feel very uncomfortable. The grit feeling is in the same place. I can see OK with them in, although it's more comfortable to look off to the distance than at anything up close. They were much easier to get out tonight!

Will update as I go since I was so grateful to find other people's experiences when I was considering this.

Keep us posted. I'm always interested in reading results of these Ortho-K's even though I'm not a candidate since I've had lasik surgery.

I wore my lenses to sleep in last night. I tried putting lubricating eye drops in about 5 minutes before insertion, and then again right before. They went in a lot easier and were much more comfortable straight away. I had no issues falling asleep right away and slept through the night without incident.

I woke up after about 9 hours and immediately moved my eyes about to see if they felt bound. They felt fine, and still pretty comfortable. I could see the time on the clock, although I would not describe it as perfectly clear. Other items about my room were the same; an improvement but not perfect.

Once I stood up, I was much more aware of the lenses and that my eyes felt dry, so I put in more drops. I have my appointment in 3.5 hours, so they have to stay in till then. I've since put in another set of drops since it feels so soothing. I have a feeling I will be loving these drops for a while.

It's still easier to look at things further away than close up, so I think I may take my coffee and go gaze out of the window a bit. More as it happens.

Oh and for other people who are thinking about Ortho-K here are 2 other experiences I found:

http://blog.corporatism.org/orthokeratology
http://www.geocities.com/orthokeratolog ... tho-k.html

It's been forever since I posted about this. After a few months of trying different lenses, I am finally there. I required one lens change for my right eye but my left was a bit more stubborn. My eye guy finally went with a fenestrated lens for my left and it's fantastic!

I am one of those who have to wear them every night to maintain the correction, but once you get the hang of getting them in/out, it's not a huge deal. I do have minor starburst issues at night, but they are not as bad as I had expected and you do get used to it.

All in all, I am very satisfied with this option. It is NOT for anyone who wants a quick fix as it does take time to find the right lenses, but it's still reversible!! Best of luck for anyone who is considering it!

Thanks for the update, Courtney.

I meant to post about my progress with CRT/Ortho-K forever ago. Apologies for being absentee for so long. I'm in law school, and I honestly just got busy with finals and forgot to ever update my progress.

I've been using the lenses now for almost a year. Overall, I have been extremely satisfied. I've tried to provide some highlights of my experience below, and would be happy to answer any questions

Blurry vision:

Originally, I was having some blur issues. The blur has completely subsided. I have crisp 20/20 vision with virtually no astigmatism. My pre-treatment prescription was about -2.25 in my right eye, and -2.50 in my left. Needless to say, being able to drive, read at a distance, watch tv, etc... without glasses has been great.

Halos/Night vision

I was also have some problems with halos/starbursts when I began. These have been mostly resolved. I still do experience small halos/starbursts at night. However, it is not something which I find to be a problem, and it is substantially less severe now than it was when I first began the treatment. I also notice some small halos if I am seeing white on a dark background at night. It's most noticeable when I watch TV with the lights off. So, my side effects regarding this were unable to be completely resolved. Due to my large dilated pupil size, the side effects probably cannot be completely eliminated in my case. The halo/starbursts have, however, decreased enough that I am not bothered by them, and most of the time I don't even notice. I have no problems driving at night (in fact, about the time car headlights appear my pupils constrict enough to eliminate any halo). To give some perspective on it, my glasses generally were dirty/scratched enough that they gave me worse night vision problems than the CRT lenses do.

Lens Durability

While fitting the lenses, it took me about 3 months to get the lenses for both eyes right. Since that time, I have been using the same pair of lenses. They seem to be quite resilient. I have ordered a backup pair ($200/eye) just in case, but I anticipate getting many more months of use out of the current set.

Dry Eye

I also suffer from moderate dry eye (another reason why I opted against lasik). This prevents me from wearing soft contacts comfortably. The CRT lenses have not been a problem, and have NOT aggravated my dry eye symptoms. In the winter, the air in Oklahoma is pretty dry, so there are some mornings where my eyes are pretty dry when I wake up. I put a couple of drops in my eye before popping the lenses out, and I'm right as rain.

Comfort

The lenses still aren't as comfortable to wear around as soft contacts. In fact, when I wake up I want to take the lenses out before doing anything else. They are more tolerable now to wear while I'm awake (sometimes I've had to run to the door in the morning with them still in), but I'd prefer only to wear them while asleep. I've only had once where I've had any problem with them while sleeping (i rubbed my eye or something and the lens slid over). They really aren't noticeable while I sleep, so I wouldn't let fear of discomfort dissuade anyone from this treatment.

aslong80,

I'm glad to hear you're having success with these lenses. I hope you continue to be happy with them and never, ever consider having LASIK!

Good luck and keep checking in from time to time.

This website is awesome. I wish I'd known about it 12 years ago--before I had Lasik in Windsor that slowly regressed to the point now that I'm wearing contacts in both eyes. Monovision soft lenses are working well. I'm transitioning into bifocal contacts for my work week and use monovision lenses for weekends that are not paperwork intensive.

Though this may sound ridiculous to some, I am as vain as it gets and refuse to wear glasses despite needing them to read unless I wear my bifocal contacts. Sooner or later, I'll give in and wear my specs but--vanity aside--it's a struggle adjusting to glasses perched on my nose when I thought I'd given them up to wear hard contacts over 30 years ago.

Where I'm at now is wanting to try Ortho-K. I consulted one doctor after doing some research. He showed me topographies of eyes that had not been lasered contrasted to mine. I was horrified. The optometrist stated that former Lasik patients are a challenge to treat successfully using Ortho-K although not impossible. He estimated a 70% chance that my eyes can be corrected to my satisfaction using Ortho-K. First, though, he planned to consult his colleagues as well as the lab in California that makes Ortho-K lenses regarding whether lenses can actually be made to change the shape of my Lasik altered corneas.

What I'm asking is if any Lasik or Lasek patients have considered CRT or Ortho-K or perhaps even corrected via these procedures successfully or otherwise. Any comments/feedback you may care to share are appreciated.

I personally wouldn't consider OrthoK. The safety of these overnight lenses has not been studied on eyes after corneal refractive surgery.