Flood control, wind power, healthcare, tulips, cheese and cycling... It seems that you can add orthokeratology to the list of things the Dutch do with enthusiasm.
The 2016 meeting of the Dutch Contact Lens Congress (NCC) was held in collaboration with the British Contact Lens Association, and included programs focusing on scientific contributions as well as clinical presentations and workshops.
We couldn’t help but notice that one of the more popular clinical programs focused on orthokeratology, which is not surprising: according to the International Contact Lens Prescribing Survey, as of 2014 this modality is more popular in the Netherlands than anywhere else in the world, accounting for 5 – 10% of all contact lens fits between 2001 and 2015.1-5 No other market reaches more than 3% of all fits with this modality (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Proportion of orthokeratology lens fits by country (2011-15). Unpublished data, P.Morgan.
Figure 2 further illustrates the disparity in lens prescribing for this modality. Although prescribing levels are variable within trends for each country, it is clear that orthokeratology fits have remained quite high (5-10% of all lens fits) in the Netherlands for the last few years, particularly in comparison to the United States and the United Kingdom.
Figure 2: Change in orthokeratology lens fits (2008-15). Unpublished data, P.Morgan.
REFERENCES:
- Morgan PB, et al. International Contact Lens Prescribing in 2015. Contact Lens Spectrum 2016 (Jan).
- Morgan PB, et al. International Contact Lens Prescribing in 2014. Contact Lens Spectrum 2015 (Jan).
- Morgan PB, et al. International Contact Lens Prescribing in 2013. Contact Lens Spectrum 2014 (Jan).
- Morgan PB, et al. International Contact Lens Prescribing in 2012. Contact Lens Spectrum 2013 (Jan).
- Morgan PB, et al. International Contact Lens Prescribing in 2011. Contact Lens Spectrum 2012 (Jan).
