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NOVEMBER 2011 - Taken from Optometry Today
Subject Matter - Contact Lenses
According to new independent global research the vast majority of contact wearers are not fully compliant, with those in soft lenses rather than daily disposables faring worst, with an average of 0.25% of wearers taking every recommended cleaning step.
Even given the fewer hygiene steps wearers of daily disposables have to comply with they didn’t fare much better, with just 15% found to be fully compliant with eye care practitioners’ and manufacturers’ recommendations.
The Bausch and Lomb funded study, led by Philip Morgan and published in the latest issue of Contact Lens and Anterior Eye, also analyses the most common aspects of the cleansing routine which are most commonly missed or performed ineffectively.
Of the survey of 4,021 contact lens wearers from around the world – including over 300 from the UK – the most common problem was case cleaning, followed by rub and rinse, replacement and then hand washing, which all came in at below 50% of compliant patients.
Lead author and director of Eurolens Research at the University of Manchester, Philip Morgan, said: “We observed that wearers who had consulted their practitioner more recently were more compliant. Given the link between some aspects of non-compliance and contact lens associated infections, we suggest that at follow-up aftercare examinations, eye care practitioners focus on case cleaning, hand washing and rubbing and rinsing of contact lenses, especially in young male lens wearers.”
The research also showed certain demographical groups were also less likely to be 100% compliant. The research concludes ‘Gender was predictive of the number of non-compliant modifiable, patient compliance-related behaviours with better compliance for women compared to men. Age was also demonstrated to be an important factor, with the number of non-compliant steps diminishing with the age of the respondent.’
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