AIM: To observe the effectiveness and safety of orthokeratology(OK)in juvenile myopia patients.

METHODS: In this study, 160 myopia adolescents(320 eyes)treated in our hospital from January 2014 to August 2015 were retrospectively analyzed and followed up. The corneal and conjunctival complications were recorded and analyzed after continuous wearing OK for 2a.The thickness of thinnest central corneal and the parameters of corneal endothelium were measured by specular microscopy after wearing for 6mo, 1 and 2a. Then the diopter, axial length, and uncorrected visual acuity were compared between the two groups before and after the visual acuity correction.

RESULTS: All affected eyes consisted of 98 eyes with Ⅰ-Ⅱ corneal fluorescence stain, 18 eyes with Ⅲ-Ⅳ corneal fluorescence stain, 16 eyes with corneal indentation, 15 eyes with visual abnormality, 10 eyes with conjunctival hyperemia, 8 eyes with aseptic conjunctiva, 8 cases with allergic conjunctivitis, which achieved remission after symptomatic intervention. The corneal endothelial cell density, corneal thickness, corneal endothelium average cell area, corneal endothelium coefficient of variation, corneal endothelium hexagonal cell ratio, anterior corneal surface curvature ratio of horizontal(HK)and vertical curvature(VK)were not statistically significant before and after wearing for 6mo, 1, and 2a(P>0.05). The uncorrected visual acuity increased significantly, and the diopter decreased significantly after their wearing(P<0.05). There was no significant difference in axial length after wearing OK lens for 6mo, 1, and 2a(P>0.05).

CONCLUSION: The orthokeratology lenses can significantly increase uncorrected visual acuity and improve refractive power for juvenile myopia without severe corneal or conjunctival complications occurred, which has little influence on corneal endothelial cells and corneal thickness with a certain degree of safety.