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Digital device use intensity affects toric lens comfort
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ANAHEIM, Calif. – “For toric lens wearers, visual performance is critical, since nearly half of all patients wearing toric contact lenses experience blurriness, fluctuating vision, visual distortion and feelings of tired eyes,” lead researcher Kieron Mathews, BSc, MBA, said, regarding his poster presented at the American Academy of Optometry annual meeting.
Researchers utilized emerging mobile research to record toric contact lens performance. Habitual toric lens wearers responded to electronic surveys sent to their smartphones every 2 hours over a single day of wear.
A total of 208 toric lens wearers completed the survey. Overall, toric contact lens performance declined over the day.
More than half of wearers (58%) experienced an overall decline in performance over the day (decliners) versus 42% who maintained performance (maintainers).
“I think we were surprised to see two distinct groups of wearers,” Mathews told Primary Care Optometry News. “We were expecting to see that everyone would experience a drop in lens performance over the course of a day, but the reality is some folks have a fine time with their torics, while others have difficulties. The ‘average’ experience is something of a misnomer.”
Decliners were more likely to report tired eyes, feeling of dryness and visual compromise. They were more likely to rub their eyes, blink to clear their vision and blink excessively to rotate the toric contact lens into position.
Notably, the performance decline rate was significantly correlated with intensity of digital device use.
Eye care practitioners should discuss and take note of their patients’ daily routine, Mathews explained.
“Any clients who talk about many different activities or environments in a day and especially those who report high digital device usage intensity should be considered at high risk of experiencing step declining lens performance each day and should be fitted with a high-quality lens that is capable of resisting destabilization of the tear film,” Mathews concluded. – by Abigail Sutton
Reference:
Mathews K, et al. Exploring variability in toric soft contact lens performance throughout a day’s wear. Presented at: American Academy of Optometry annual meeting; November 9-12, 2016; Anaheim, Calif.
Disclosure: Mathews is CEO of Kadence International USA