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Patient education needed to stem contact-lens-related corneal ulcers

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A rise in the incidence of contact-lens-related corneal ulcers cannot be adequately explained by an increase in the number of lens wearers, a 7-year retrospective study found. The results suggest the need for better patient education, the study authors said.

Dominik Verhelst, MD, and colleagues at Antwerp University in Belgium reviewed the records of 107 patients treated for contact-lens-related corneal ulcers. Ninety-nine of the patients wore soft contact lenses. Most ulcers (77%) were located centrally and caused an average loss of four lines of Snellen visual acuity.

The researchers found that the number of cases of corneal ulcers increased from five in 1997 to 22 in 2003. However, between 1995 and 2003, there was only a 3% increase in the number of patients in Belgium wearing contact lenses, according to the study.

The study was published in the August issue of Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica.