Both 17-year old Tiffani Petracca and 12-year-old John Cordova have less than perfect vision.
"I can't see anything far away," said Cordova.
John wore glasses. Tiffani wore contacts. Neither liked wearing the devices, and they are too young for lasik surgery.
A solution to both of their troubles lies in a certain contact lens, it has special curves on the back that uses reverse geometry to reshape your cornea. It does this by making temporary impression on the eye.
"By manipulating that impression you can actually increase or decrease the actual length of the eye making it longer or shorter by a fraction of a hair width and that's really all most people need to see clearly," said Dr. Ben Larson an Optometric Physician"
The process is called Ortho-K or orthokeratology. Patients wear the special contact lens only at night while they're sleeping.
"Now, with the lids help, that extra pressure while sleeping accelerates the process," said Larson.
"I'd rather wear it at night and see better during the day," said Cordova.
"Another advantage is that the lenses are modifiable that means a doctor can keep up with a patients eye needs over time.
"There are changes going on inside the eye that we can't stop with ortho-k lenses or lasik or regular contact lenses such as the lens in the eye or cataracts or lid pressure on the globe changing the amount of astigmatism,"
said Larson
Because ortho-k leaves a temporary impression...patients will have to wear the lenses for the rest of their lives.
That's Your Health and Fitness, Nancy Gay Central Florida News 13.