ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Ophthalmology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1620042
This article is part of the Research TopicMyopia in Childhood and AdolescenceView all 13 articles
Effects of Orthokeratology Lenses on Choroidal Thickness and Choriocapillaris Perfusion in Myopic Children
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Ophthalmology, Affiliated Hospital, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
- 2Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
- 3Affiliated Hospital, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
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Purpose: To investigate changes in subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFChT) and choriocapillaris (CC) perfusion in children wearing orthokeratology (Ortho-K) lenses.Methods: This retrospective study included 61 myopic children, who were divided into two groups. The Ortho-K group wore Ortho-K lenses, while the control group wore single-vision distance spectacles. The SFChT , CC area and ocular parameters were measured before and after 1 week， 1 month， 3 months， and 6 months of treatment.Results: In the Ortho-K group, the SFChT significantly increased by 18.23 ± 11.35 μm.The CC area significantly increased by 0.39 ± 0.11 mm² from baseline at the 1-week visit and continued to increase at the 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month follow-ups. In the control group, the choroidal parameters did not change significantly at 1 week. At the 1-, 3-, and 6-month follow-ups, the control group showed a notable reduction in SFChT and CC areas (P < 0.001). At the 6-month follow-up, there was a significant relationship between changes in SFChT and CC areas in the Ortho-K group (r = 0.890, P < 0.001).The increasing SFChT and CC areas were negatively correlated with AL (r = -0.827, P < 0.001; r = -0.717, P < 0.001), weakly negatively correlated with changes in VCD (r = -0.033, P < 0.05; r = -0.039, P < 0.05), and negatively correlated with K1 and K2 (r = -0.430, P < 0.001 and r = -0.545, P < 0.001, respectively; r = -0.417, P < 0.001 and r = -0.464, P < 0.001, respectively).Changes in choroidal thickness are linked to alterations in choriocapillaris perfusion.These effects are associated with the effect of orthokeratology in slowing axial length elongation.
Keywords: Children, Myopia, Orthokeratology, Choroid, choriocapillaris, OCT
Received: 29 Apr 2025; Accepted: 24 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Liu, Ma, Zhao and Bao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiuli Bao, Affiliated Hospital, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
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