Contact lenses improve quality of life for children, teens

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Wearing contact lenses improves how children and teenagers feel about their appearance and participation in activities more than wearing glasses, according to findings from the Contact Lens in Pediatrics Study.

"The improvement in quality of life after contact lens wear indicates that children should be offered contact lenses as a treatment for refractive error as routinely as teens," the study authors said.

"Children as young as 8 years old who need vision correction are as capable as teenagers at wearing and caring for soft contact lenses and should be presented with the option of contact lens wear when vision correction is required," said lead study author Jeffrey J. Walline, OD, PhD, in a press release from Vistakon, the study's sponsor. "This research demonstrates that both children and teens derive a number of quality of life benefits from contact lenses, which leads to greater satisfaction with their vision correction."

In the study, the researchers categorized 169 neophyte contact lens wearers from three clinical centers into two groups. Specifically, 84 patients were categorized as children aged 8 to 12 years and 85 were classified as teens aged 13 to 17 years.

All patients completed the Pediatric Refractive Error Profile (PREP), a pediatric quality of life survey for subjects affected only by refractive error, while they were wearing glasses.

Afterward, the researchers fitted the patients with silicone hydrogel contact lenses (Acuvue Advance with Hydraclear or Acuvue Advance for Astigmatism, Vistakon). The patients then completed the same survey at 1 week, 1 month and 3 months follow-up.

At 3 months, the overall PREP scores while wearing glasses had increased from 64.4 for children and 61.8 for teens to 79.2 for children and 76.5 for teens while wearing contact lenses, the authors reported.

The improvement was significant for both children and teens (P < .0001), with no significant difference in improvement between groups.

Patients showed the most improvement in their satisfaction with correction, activities and appearance, the authors noted.

The study is published in the November issue of Eye & Contact Lens.