Editorial: One year Optometry & Contact Lenses (OCL)
The first Optometry & Contact Lenses (OCL) was published on 1 July 2021. After long and intensive preparations, the project of a German-language peer-reviewed journal for optometry and ophthalmology became reality. Optometry & Contact Lenses (OCL), which is the new journal of the Association of German Contact Lens Specialists and Optometrists (VDCO), is published as a print edition in German. Selected publications, along with all abstracts, can be found as open access articles on the English OCL website. Optometry & Contact Lenses (OCL) is an international peer-review journal for the field of eye and vision care. The immediate popularity of OCL is reflected not only in the continuously increasing number of subscribers, but also in the number of submitted manuscripts. 65 scientific and clinical papers have been submitted for publication so far. Of these, 48 papers have successfully passed the peer review process.
The subject of the current July/August OCL is “Orthokeratology”. George Jessen, one of the founding members of the "Society of Orthokeratology” founded in 1962 first described a method for reducing myopia in his paper "Orthofocus Techniques" in the same year. The paper was published in the first international contact lens journal "Contacto", which was issued by the US National Eye Research Foundation.1 The first orthokeratology study was published three years later in the Southern Journal of Optometry.2,3 The author was the American optometrist Sanford L. Ziff. 60 years have now passed since George Jessen's first Ortho-K publication. The huge number of 743 results of a PubMed search "orthokeratology" on 1 May 2022 shows the enormous interest in this form of contact lens treatment. For this reason, three articles and one interview on the subject of orthokeratology are published in this OCL issue.
Modern orthokeratology has evolved over the past decades with new contact lens geometries and materials. In addition, the knowledge regarding the topography of the cornea has become more complex thanks to new measuring methods and instruments. 60 years after the publication "Orthofocus Techniques" in 1962, orthokeratology has become established worldwide as a safe contact lens treatment option.
Every science is based on innovation and a constant exchange of ideas. Since its first issue one year ago, this has been one of the principles of Optometry & Contact Lenses (OCL).
Literature References
[1] Jessen, G. (1962). OrthofocusTechniques. Contacto, 6, 200.
[2] Ziff, S. L. (1965). Orthokeratology in relation to existing corneal curvatures. So. J. Opt., 7, 9-19, 30-35, 37.
[3] Coon, L. J. (1982). Orthokeratology: Part I historical perspective. J. Am. Optom. Assoc., 53, 187-195.