Vision Therapy and Contact Lens Centre
Are your contact lenses comfortable?
Do you see better with your glasses than your contacts?
Gedalya Shindler has experience fitting the widest range of contact lenses available, onto the most complicated eyes imaginable, from his time working at The Royal Free Hospital in London, and specialises in finding solutions to contact lens problems where others have failed. There is a solution for almost anybody, with no restriction of severity of astigmatism or the like. So if you have been told you are not a candidate for contact lenses, come to Shindler Insight for a second opinion!
You should expect a professional contact lens service, including corneal mapping using the most advanced corneal topographical software on the market, and most importantly, someone who is willing to give time and consideration to all your contact lens needs, who has no retail agreements with any particular supplier but uses all the options on the market, including custom designed soft, rigid gas permeable and scleral lenses.
Gedalya is very interested in how the 2 eyes work together and assesses that for each contact lens fitting too, ensuring balanced and comfortable vision for all patients. He is happy to find solutions for those "middle-aged" who are finding reading a challenge with their contact lenses.
Gedalya also held a clinical teaching position in Hadassah College in Jerusalem, one of 2 institutions in Israel for training Optometrists. He instructed and examined 3rd year students in practical contact lens fitting techniques, and supervised 4th year students fitting contact lenses on the general public in the college clinics.
Ortho-K, and myopia (short sight) control
What is Ortho-K?
Ortho-Keratology, or Ortho-K, is a technique using custom-designed contact lenses which flatten the central cornea during overnight wear by causing cells to migrate outwards during the night. These lenses are manufactured based on minute detail of the corneal shape gathered by our state-of-the-art corneal topographer, using the most advanced software available on the market. After the first few night's wear, the effect lasts throughout the day, providing clear vision during the day.
Is it safe?
In general, wearing lenses overnight is not advised as the incidence of eye infections is far greater. However, with Ortho-K you remove the lenses in the morning, allowing your eyes to make a full recovery during the waking hours. Hence the risk of eye infection is minimal, and the eyes often look healthier than if you had been wearing contacts all day.
Are the effects lasting?
If you cease to wear your lenses, your cornea quickly returns to its natural shape, meaning the effect is fully reversible (unlike laser surgery).
Ortho-K and Myopia Control
All around the world, vision scientists are trying to find solutions to slow progression of short sight (myopia). There is very compelling evidence that Ortho-K not only reshapes the cornea, but has the effect of slowing the growth of the eye by 50% or more! It is one of the most exciting developments in myopia control in history. It means that if you wear Ortho-K lenses for 5 years and then stop wearing them, your eyes would be far less myopic than if you had persisted with spectacles. There is some evidence that some types of soft multifocal contact lenses can also slow myopic progression, but the evidence is less compelling.
Fitting Ortho-K
Ortho-K requires quite a few appointments to get started, but once established wearing them only requires bi-annual or annual follow-up. There is an initial fitting session, where the prescription is measured, eye health assessed, and corneal mapping is analysed. Once the lenses have been ordered, you will be instructed how to insert and remove them and will come for a further appointment the morning after 1st wear. Depending on the case, you may need to come back after 1 week, 2 weeks and 3 months.
Keratoconus
Keratoconus is a relatively common condition, where as a result of weakness in the cornea (the main focusing lens at the front of the eye), the cornea bulges outwards. This gives rise to distortions in vision which often cannot be satisfactorily eliminated with traditional spectacle solutions (spherical or cylindrical lenses). Contact lenses provide far better visual acuity in the majority of cases.
Keratoconus can present in many different variations, and there are multiple designs of Contact Lenses in order to cater for the full range of presentations. These start from custom soft contact lenses for mild cases, to rigid lenses of varying diameters, including large scleral lenses.
Gedalya will endeavour to find the best solution, from the perspective of vision, comfort and eye health unique to each patient. He will draw upon 10 years experience fitting hundreds of keratoconic patients with customised contact lenses in London, and with the assistance of state-of-the-art corneal mapping technology.