This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Study: Adaptation, motivation critical to curb contact lens dropout in children
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Recently published study results have shown that most children discontinue contact lens wear due to lack of adaptability and motivation.
This prospective, randomized study included 240 Chinese children with myopia (ages 7 to 14 years) who wore silicone hydrogel contact lenses for 2 years. Patient myopia reached up to -3.50 D spherical equivalent, and astigmatism was less than or equal to -0.75 D. Lenses were worn daily and replaced monthly. Primary outcomes of the study were the determination of adverse events and the rate of discontinuation per 100 patient-years.
According to the results, while there was no incidence of microbial keratitis, 55 other adverse events were observed, an incidence rate of 14.2% among the population. Twelve of those events were recurrent. Adverse events included contact lens papillary conjunctivitis (16 events amounting to a 4.1% incidence rate overall), superior epithelial arcuate lesion (six events, 1.5% incidence overall), corneal erosion (eight events, 2.1% incidence overall), infiltrative keratitis (five events, 1.3% incidence overall), asymptomatic infiltrative keratitis (seven events, 1.8% incidence overall) and asymptomatic infiltrates (13 events, 3.42% incidence overall). No event resulted in vision loss.
Twenty-six participants (10.8%) discontinued wear within the first month, and 70 patients (29.2%) discontinued overall. Discomfort and non-lens-related reasons (e.g., safety concerns and disinterest) were frequently cited for why patients discontinued.
“Adverse events with daily wear of silicone hydrogels in children were mainly mechanical in nature, and significant infiltrative events were few,” the study authors concluded. “The large number of dropouts in the early days of lens wear and their reasons for discontinuation suggest that adaptation and patient motivation are critical for survival in lens wear.”
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts