The Effect of Treatment Zone Decentration on Myopic Progression during Or-thokeratology

Abstract

<b>Purpose</b>: To evaluate the relationship between magnitude of orthokeratology (OrthoK) treatment zone decentration and 2-year axial length (AL) elongation in myopic children.<b>Methods</b>: One-hundred and one Chinese children who wore OrthoK contact lenses for 2 years. The magnitude and direction of the OrthoK treatment zone center from the entrance pupil center were recorded after 3 and 24 months of lens wear along with AL measurement. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was performed to assess which factors significantly affected an increase in AL.<b>Results</b>: After 3 and 24 months of OrthoK treatment, the mean (± standard deviation [SD]) magnitude of the OrthoK treatment zone decentration was 0.64 ± 0.38 mm and 0.68 ± 0.32 mm, respectively. There were no significant differences between the two time points (<i>P</i> > .05). After 2 years of OrthoK contact lenses wear, the mean (± SD) AL growth was 0.36 ± 0.34 mm. The axial elongation was slightly correlated with baseline age of subjects (r = -0.073, <i>P</i> < .001), baseline spherical equivalent refractive error (r = -0.088, <i>P</i> < .001) and magnitude decentration of treatment zone (r = -0.190, <i>P</i> = .027).<b>Conclusions</b>: The decentration of OrthoK treatment zone stabilizes after 3 months of lens wear and slightly decreases AL growth.