title: Contact lens hygiene compliance and lens case contamination: A review.
abstract: A contaminated contact lens case can act as a reservoir for microorganisms that could potentially compromise contact lens wear and lead to sight threatening adverse events. The rate, level and profile of microbial contamination in lens cases, compliance and other risk factors associated with lens case contamination, and the challenges currently faced in this field are discussed. The rate of lens case contamination is commonly over 50%. Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens are frequently recovered from lens cases. In addition, we provide suggestions regarding how to clean contact lens cases and improve lens wearers' compliance as well as future lens case design for reducing lens case contamination. This review highlights the challenges in reducing the level of microbial contamination which require an industry wide approach.
authors.affiliation: School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Yvonne Tzu-Ying
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Willcox
authors.affiliation: School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: f.stapleton@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stapleton
mesh_terms: D018639:Contact Lens Solutions / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003261:Contact Lenses / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004866:Equipment Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015818:Eye Infections, Bacterial / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene; D007634:Keratitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D019064:Product Packaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018570:Risk Assessment
chemical_list: D018639:Contact Lens Solutions
keywords: Contact lens case cleaning guidelines; Contact lens hygiene compliance; Lens case contamination; Microbial keratitis; Review; Risk factor