Your health: Correct your vision while you sleep
Correct your vision while you sleep
Glasses and contact lenses can be a lot of trouble for kids who are active and refractive surgery isn't usually recommended until age 21.
Now, some optometrists offer another treatment that could have kids waking up to better vision, reports ABC-Los Angeles.
Kaleigh Dooney is an active 10-year-old who loves swimming and gymnastics. But she's also nearsighted.
Kaleigh didn't want glasses or contact lenses to slow her down during the day. So she decided to try something new — she wears special corrective lenses at night.
The treatment is called orthokeratology or ortho-k. It involves customized contact lenses that gently flatten the cornea to correct myopia.
“They actually put the lenses on and trap a layer of tear underneath the lenses, using the pressure of the tear to change the shape of the eye. So, flatten the cornea and after you take the lenses out in the morning, you're able to see clear, 20/20,” said Dr. Albert Pang, an optometrist.
There is no surgery, no glasses or daytime contacts. The process is reversible and may slow down the progression of myopia. But it does cost three times as much as regular contacts. Also, some refractive eye surgeons do not recommend it.
“Infection is the No. 1 problem that we worry about with any kind of contact lens, particularly at night. In fact, as an ophthalmologist, I discourage all patients from wearing contact lenses at night,” said Dr. Dain Brooks, an ophthalmologist.
Dr. Pang says 80 percent of his patients who choose ortho-k are 7 to 17 years old.
Study: Moms more productive at work
Worried that having kids will slow you down at work? It could be just the opposite, NBC News reports.
A recent study by the research division at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis examining the link between productivity and parenthood among a group of academic economists found that moms and dads who had two or more children were more productive than those with only one child or no children.
“Mothers of at least two children are, on average more productive than mothers of only one child, and mothers in general are more productive than childless women,” the study found.