What is Gentle Molding?
Gentle Molding is a non-surgical procedure used to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. The cornea, the outer window of the eye, is reshaped while sleeping with a molding lens at night. This reshaping of the cornea corrects the vision during the night-time to allow for clear vision without the need for glasses or contact lenses. This non-surgical procedure is very safe. They are comfortable to sleep with, and are easy to handle. The cornea will maintain the clear vision throughout the day until the molding lenses are worn again for sleeping. These molding lenses are custom fit for each eye. The custom fit is based on computerized measurements of the cornea and the exact prescription. Gentle molding is safe for ages 6 and up.
The patient is scheduled to return to the office the very next morning as the first patient of the day. After the doctor evaluates the fit at that morning visit, the patient will be rescheduled for another office visit, typically in about two weeks. At that visit, the patient has an examination to determine their refraction and eye health. By this time in the process, most patients are no longer wearing any correction during the daytime.
The next office visit is typically in one month. This one-month visit is to evaluate the fit and check the vision. As the cornea has been reshaped during this month of wear time, sometimes the GMA’s may become too tight. We want to make sure the eyes are healthy and the vision is good and that the patient is starting to get into a routine. The patient should be much better at handling the appliances, wearing the appliances, and caring for them. They should be very excited and happy with their vision by now. If everything is still good at this point, then we will reschedule the patient for their next visit in one month. We will examine the patient monthly for the next 3 months. They will now wear them as a retainer to maintain the correction. Then it is just a matter of maintaining the vision and eye health at the yearly eye exam.
The Gentle Molding Process...
The first step for gentle molding is to determine if the patient is a good candidate. We will also do a very thorough and precise refraction to determine the amount of prescription we need to correct, and verify the health of the eyes, inside and out.
Once this examination is finished, and the patient has been completely informed about all the aspects of gentle molding process, we will order the first set of gentle molding appliances. The gentle molding appliances typically take about two weeks to arrive at the office. The patient is then scheduled for an appointment to dispense the GMA’s (gentle molding appliances). At this dispensing visit the patient will be instructed on how to insert and remove the GMA’s. The doctor will examine the fit of the GMA’s a on the patient’s eyes at this dispensing visit.
