
The Research in Orthokeratology (ROK) Group in the School of Optometry & Vision Science at UNSW has received funding from the Australian Government and contact lens industry partners over several years. Our research aims to develop new products for OK, and to deepen our understanding of the corneal tissue response to overnight OK so that the procedure can be made as safe and effective as possible.
We are currently recruiting subjects aged between 45 and 60 who require glasses for reading and near work only, to test novel OK lens designs for the correction of presbyopia.
Preliminary research is underway to investigate the performance of OK lenses on eyes that have high degrees of corneal astigmatism or irregularity. Results from these preliminary studies will guide the development of lens designs to correct astigmatism through corneal reshaping.
We will soon be recruiting myopic subjects to wear OK lenses for myopia correction for up to three months. During this period of lens wear we will monitor the sensitivity of the cornea and capture maps of the corneal nerves using sophisticated imaging technology.
Novel sophisticated instrumentation and mathematical models are providing us with insights into subtle lens design changes that might improve the subjective visual quality experienced by wearers of OK lenses for myopia, hyperopia and presbyopia.
Following on from our work demonstrating that OK lens wear may slow myopia progression in children, we will soon conduct studies with the aim of manipulating lens design and optimising the corneal reshaping process to maximise the myopia control effect for individual children.