The effect of soft contact lenses during the measurement of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness using optical coherence tomography.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate if the measurement of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness using optical coherence tomography (OCT) is affected by soft contact lens wear.


METHODS
This prospective, observational, cross-sectional clinical study looked at 66 eyes in 66 patients who usually wear soft contact lenses everyday and 36 eyes in 36 patients who did not wear contact lenses during the 6 months prior to the study. No patients had pre-existing retinal or optic nerve pathology or other media opacities that might influence the RNFL thickness. All eyes were scanned using the fast RNFL program of the Stratus OCT with and without soft contact lenses on.


RESULTS
The mean RNFL thickness in eyes with and without soft contact lenses was 99.4 +/- 9.7 (SD) microm and 100.8 +/- 10.3 micro m, respectively, in contact lens wearers. The mean RNFL thickness in eyes with and without soft contact lenses was 102.8 +/- 10.8 microm and 105.3 +/- 9.9 microm, respectively, in non-contact lens wearers. The mean RNFL thickness in eyes with and without soft contact lenses was significantly different in both groups of patients (p = 0.006, p = 0.001, respectively). The average RNFL thickness without soft contact lenses was statistically significantly increased in non-contact wearers compared with soft contact lens wearers (p = 0.035).


CONCLUSIONS
Soft contact lenses may affect the measurement of RNFL thickness using OCT. It is recommended that clinicians be careful in measuring RNFL thickness using OCT with myopic patients using soft contact lenses.
Youm
Dong Ju
DJ
Department of Ophthalmology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Kim
Joon Mo
JM
Park
Ki Ho
KH
Choi
Chul Young
CY
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001369:Axons; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D003263:Contact Lenses, Hydrophilic; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009216:Myopia / Q000628:therapy; D009900:Optic Nerve / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence