Researchers recently found that overnight orthokeratology patients may benefit, at least visually, from wearing their contact lenses during an afternoon nap. The didn’t find any significant changes in corneal curvature or elevation, however.

This study included 12 patients aged 30.8±8.3 years with a history of overnight orthokeratology wear of 27.4±23.0 months. Patients were instructed to either wear their lenses or remove them during a 30-minute nap. A team assessed anterior corneal curvature, elevation and corneal pachymetry before eye closure (baseline), immediately after eye opening/lens removal and 30 minutes after the nap.

The investigators did not observe statistically significant differences in anterior corneal curvature or elevation between any of the time points, with or without contact lenses. They noted that corneal swelling immediately after the 30-minutes of eye closure was greater without contact lenses (change in central corneal thickness of 2.3%±3.1%) than with contact lenses (1.7%±1.3%). They added that recovery 30 minutes later was slower when lenses were worn.

The study authors concluded that only a statistically significant improvement in objective quality of vision and visual acuity was achieved when patients napped with their lenses.