How to Care for Your Ortho-K Lenses

Approximately 45 million people in the United States wear contact lenses, and a portion of these users are turning to ortho-K lenses to correct issues with myopia and astigmatism. 

If you’ve opted for ortho-K lenses for you or your child, taking good care of them is paramount, which is why Dr. Curtis Frank and our team at Vision and Ortho-K Center pulled together the following tips.

Your ortho-k starter kit

As with all contact lenses, you’re placing your ortho-K lenses directly onto your eyes each night, so keeping them clean and free of debris is very important as your eyes are quite delicate.

When we give you your ortho-K lenses, we also supply you with:

• A case to store them in
• Cleaning solution
• A soaking liquid
• Eye drops

This starter kit has all of the essentials you need for keeping your ortho-K lenses clean and properly stored. If you run out of supplies, most pharmacies carry these items.

Before you put your ortho-K lenses in

Before you go to bed, you should thoroughly wash your hands and, once clean, you should take each lens out and massage a few drops of the cleaning solution into the lens, making sure to address the entire lens.

Once your lens is cleaned, use the rinsing solution to clear away the cleaning fluid, which can sting your eyes. Then place the lens on your eye.

Run your hands under some water again and then clean and rinse the other lens as we describe above.

Once your lenses are in place, we may have you use eye drops to remoisturize the lenses so that they work smoothly through the night.

In the morning

When you wake in the morning, you should follow the same steps as above, except you’ll be removing the lenses rather than putting them in. This means washing your hands; removing, cleaning, and rinsing the ortho-k lenses; and then placing them in the storage case.

A word about storage cases

Since you’re taking such great care to ensure that your ortho-k lenses are properly cleaned, it makes sense that you should devote the same amount of attention to your storage case.

Always check to make sure the case is clean and spend a few minutes each week cleaning out the case (perhaps at night after you’ve placed the lenses onto your eyes). We recommend that you use a saline solution to rinse the storage case and avoid using tap water. Once the case is clean, you can fill it with the storage solution again.

If you follow these tips, your ortho-k lenses can last up to a year or two, but you do need to come back to see us more frequently to ensure the lenses are reshaping your corneas properly and your vision is improving.

If you have more questions about caring for your ortho-k lenses, contact one of our offices in Boston or Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts, to schedule an appointment.