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Vukich recommends fewer days without contact lenses before LASIK evaluation
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KOLOA, Hawaii — The amount of time a patient is out of soft contact lenses before LASIK evaluation does not affect their postoperative visual acuity, according to a speaker here.
“We really can’t tell there’s any reason to believe that any time out of the contact lens prior to evaluation has any impact on the quality of vision or on our ability to create a surgical plan,” John A. Vukich, MD, said at Hawaiian Eye 2017.
John A. Vukich
Previous recommendations, including what is currently suggested by the FDA, is for patients to remove contact lenses 14 days before an initial exam. However, a recent evaluation of more than 4,000 patients who were not given direction on how long to leave their lenses out showed no difference between those who did so 1 day prior and those who did so 14 days prior.
Patients who removed their contact lenses 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, and 4 to 13 days before evaluation were studied and there were no significant differences in outcomes between study groups with regard to postoperative uncorrected visual acuity, best corrected visual acuity, predictability, patient satisfaction, dry eye, glare and night driving difficulty, according to Vukich.
Based on the results, Vukich said he has changed his recommendations, now asking patients to remove their contact lenses 1 day before evaluation. If surgery is scheduled, he continues to suggest they remove their soft contact lenses 7 days before surgery. – by Rebecca Forand
Reference:
Vukich J. How long do contact lenses need to be out prior to LASIK evaluation? Presented at: Hawaiian Eye; Jan. 14-20, 2017; Koloa, Hawaii.
Disclosure: Vukich reports he is a consultant to AcuFocus, Abbott Medical Optics, STAAR Surgical and Zeiss and is a member of Optical Express International Medical Advisory Board.