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Study finds increase in number of contact lens-related corneal ulcers
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The number of contact lens-related bacterial corneal ulcers increased significantly between 2004 and 2007, according to a study.
Investigators retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients at one institution who were diagnosed with bacterial corneal ulcers between January 2004 and December 2007. They identified 507 corneal ulcers; 223 ulcers were related to contact lens wear, and 284 were not related to contact lens wear.
Mean patient age was 52.2 years. Patients with contact lens-related ulcers had a mean age of 35.9 years and those with ulcers not related to contact lenses had a mean age of 65.8 years; the between-group difference was statistically significant (P < .001).
Soft daily-wear frequent replacement lenses were worn in 68 of 203 cases (33.5%) and were the lens most commonly associated with corneal ulcers.
Overnight wear was a factor in 121 (54.3%) of the contact lens-related ulcer cases; contact lenses were not approved for overnight wear in 21 (9.4%) of these cases.
Results showed 38 gram-positive and 81 gram-negative isolates. The most common agents were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (63%), coagulase-negative staphylococcus (16.8%), Streptococcus (5.9%), and Staphylococcus aureus (5.9%). Three of seven S. aureus isolates identified were resistant to methicillin.
The percentage of contact lens-related ulcers was greater in 2006 (P = .004) and 2007 (P = .005) than in 2004. The overall proportion of contact lens-related ulcers increased significantly over time (P = .003).
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