Contacts That Are Worn Overnight

About 25-percent of people in the U.S. live with nearsightedness. It typically starts in childhood and vision gradually gets worse as you get older. Now optometrists are testing contact lenses worn only at night to improve vision during the day.

Twelve-year-old Isabella Jorgenson loves to be in front of the lens, but being nearsighted turned her early modeling career into a blur.

"Trees, grass, the plants. It all blends in to make one big thing," says Isabella.

She tried contacts, but the maintenance was too much for the preteen to handle. That's when her mom heard about a study testing contacts worn only at night.

"We're looking to see if we can stop the progression, and I said, that's what we want," says Sheri Jorgenson, Isabella's mom.

Kids wear the cornea-reshaping contacts while they sleep. Optometrists say when they take them out in the morning, their vision is temporarily corrected.
Regular contacts are curved. These look like a plateau.

"It's flat in the center and steeper on the sides," says optometrist Rob Davis.

It gently flattens the center of the eye during the night, changing the shape of the cornea. Before wearing the contacts, a nearsighted eye is steep. After the contacts have been worn, the eye flattens out.

"Very similar to if you've ever worn a watch or a ring," Davis says. "And you take the ring or the watch off, there's a little indentation."

In a study of 300 kids, those with the re-shaping lenses maintained their vision after the first year. Those with regular contacts needed a stronger prescription.

"I'm really not talking about permanent correcting, but what I am talking about is reducing the progression" says Davis.

For Isabella, it means 20/20 vision during the day without contacts or glasses.

The cornea-reshaping lenses are already FDA approved and being used by adults. Doctors are collecting data to find out if using them early can stop progression of nearsightedness in kids.