Orthokeratology Preferred as Myopia Modality by Active Individuals

Orthokeratology (OK) may be the myopia modality of choice among adults and children who are physically active, according to survey results reported in Contact Lens and Anterior Eye. Parents’ perceptions of their child’s quality of life (QOL), however, did not align with their child’s perceptions. 

Researchers included 48 adults (mean age, 21.9 years; 69% women) and 49 children (mean age, 14.1 years; 59% girls) with myopia who used OK, soft contact lenses, or spectacles. Participants reported QOL using the Pediatric Refractive Error Profile 2 (PREP2) survey. The caretakers of pediatric patients also completed the survey by responding as they believed their children would answer. 

Both children and adults reported higher QOL with OK lenses with respect to several survey items. Adults who wore OK lenses reported more satisfaction with vision (+23 point difference; P =.04), activities (+20 point difference; P =.002), and overall satisfaction (+20 points difference; P =.03) compared with adults who wore spectacles. Participants reported no significant QOL differences between OK and soft contact lens wearers. 

In the children’s cohort, only activity-related QOL differences were reported between the myopia modalities. Both OK and soft contact lens wearers reported higher scores compared with spectacle lens wearers (+33 and +19 point differences, respectively; P ≤.004 for both).

Compared with parental perceptions, children who wore soft contact lenses and OK lenses reported higher QOL for activities (+13 points; P =.049 and +16 points; P =.01, respectively). Children who wore spectacles reported higher QOL for ease of handling (+11 points; P =.047) and peer perception (+3 points; P =.03) than perceived by their parents, according to the report.

“Children rated OK higher for activities compared to adults. This could be because children live more activity-focused lives where they can appreciate independence from correction throughout the day,” according to the researchers. “Among adults, OK had better scores for activities, vision and overall subscales. The improvement in vision could be because they had a greater appreciation for their vision being clear throughout the day. These findings are consistent with the literature, where OK wearers scored higher in activities than SCL wearers and had a high overall satisfaction rating after 1 year of OK wear, but no difference was found in vision between OK and SCL.”

This research is limited in that a pediatric survey was used for all participants. Additionally, the optics of multifocal lenses could have reduced vision scores for some pediatric patients compared with single vision wearers.

Disclosure: This research was supported by CooperVision Specialty Eye Care. Please see the original reference for a full list of authors’ disclosures.