Comfort response to rigid and soft hyper-transmissible contact lenses used for continuous wear.
OBJECTIVE
To assess subjective comfort during the first three months of continuous wear of hyper-transmissible soft and rigid contact lenses.


METHODS
One hundred subjects (50 experienced wearers and 50 neophytes) were fitted with either the Focus Night & Day lens (CIBA Vision, Duluth, GA) or the Z alpha lens (Menicon, Nagoya, Japan). Comfort was monitored at regular intervals using a vertical analog comfort scale.


RESULTS
Good comfort scores (generally indicating very comfortable lenses) were recorded for the two soft lens groups (experienced and neophytes) and the experienced rigid lens group; these scores remained approximately constant throughout the study. Comfort reported by neophyte rigid lens wearers was initially recorded as being between slightly uncomfortable and comfortable; however, after 1 week of daily wear and 1 night of overnight wear, the mean comfort score of this group reached a level that was similar to that recorded by subjects in the other three study groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The comfort data presented in this study can be used by clinicians to anticipate the subjective response of both new and existing lens wearers to new-generation hyper-transmissible soft and rigid contact lenses.
Morgan
Philip B
PB
Eurolens Research, Department of Optometry and Neuroscience, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, Manchester, United Kingdom. phillip.morgan@umist.ac.uk
Maldonado-Codina
Carole
C
Efron
Nathan
N
D000328:Adult; D003261:Contact Lenses; D003262:Contact Lenses, Extended-Wear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009799:Ocular Physiological Phenomena; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000628:therapy; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology