Wearing contact lenses during sleep and poor lens hygiene can lead to vision-threatening eye infections. Recently one U.K. journalist developed microbial keratitis, an infection of the cornea, after overnight contact lens wear and occasionally rinsing her contacts with tap water.

The 24-year-old journalist first noticed something was wrong when she woke up with pain in her left eye. Her eye turned red and teary with a red rim around the iris, and she became sensitive to light. Read more…

Disposable contact lenses designed for more frequent replacement are associated with fewer unscheduled visits to the eye doctor, according to a new study.

Researchers found 8 percent of patients wearing two-week disposable contacts returned to their eye doctor with comfort or vision complaints over the study period, compared with 13 percent of patients wearing monthly replacement lenses. Read more…

“Can my child successfully wear contact lenses?”

It’s a question many parents ask their eye doctor when their kids want contacts. In this month’s Contact Lens Spectrum, Jeffrey Walline, OD, PhD, and Marjorie Rah, OD, PhD, discuss some of the factors associated with the success (or lack of success) children have when attempting to wear contact lenses.

Recent research suggests that more than 90 percent of children ages 8 to 14 can successfully adapt to wearing soft contact lenses. Because of this high success rate, most children who are interested in contact lenses choose soft lenses.

With gas permeable contact lenses (also called GP contacts), it’s a different story. The success rate fitting children with GP lenses is approximately 55 percent. For this reason, Drs. Walline and Rah say more careful screening of candidates for these lenses may be beneficial.

In a study published in 2009, Dr. Walline found that most children who were unable to adapt to contact lens wear tend to stop wearing the lenses within the first few weeks. But is was unclear to the researchers if these children simply chose not to wear the GP lenses frequently enough and long enough to adapt to them, or if contact lens discomfort or other factors made adapting to the lenses impossible, and this was the reason they wore the lenses less than those who were successful.

From their personal experience fitting children with contacts, the authors have found that children who are squeamish about having their eyes or eyelids touched by their doctor during an eye exam are less likely to succeed with contact lens wear. Children with small eye openings, poor dexterity or poor hygiene also are less likely to wear contacts successfully.

Parents also are a factor in a child’s success wearing contacts, according to the doctors. Parents who are involved without being overbearing offer the best support environment for their kids to wear contacts successfully, they say.

Dr. Walline is an assistant professor at Ohio State University College of Optometry, where he conducts studies of pediatric contact lens wear. Dr. Rah is a staff optometrist at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Contact Lens Service, where she specializes in medically necessary contact lenses and advanced contact lens designs.

In this month’s issue of Contact Lens Spectrum, editor and contact lens specialist Jason J. Nichols, OD, warns that current economic conditions may be affecting how people are wearing and caring for their contact lenses.

Dr. Nichols says hard economic times can alter people’s behavior regarding their health, including how frequently they replace their contacts and how they use contact lens solutions.

“I am hearing more and more reports of patients looking for the cheapest ‘bottle’ on the shelf, which just happens to be saline rather than an appropriate care solution,” he says. Many contact lens wearers may also be using their lenses for longer periods of time rather than discarding and replacing them according to the schedule their optometrist or ophthalmologist recommends, according to Dr. Nichols.

Internet blogs and social networking sites may be contributing to the problem: some sites feature discussion boards where contact lens wearers report how they routinely wear their disposable contacts longer than recommended.

Dr. Nichols warns that poor contact lens habits frequently lead to contact lens-related eye infections, including severe infections like Acanthamoeba keratitis. He urges eye doctors to continue educating and re-educating their patients about proper contact lens wear and care.

In a related story published in the journal, a survey released by the American Optometric Association indicates 52 percent of consumers are visiting their eye doctor less frequently due to economic reasons. The same survey says 59 percent are visiting their primary care physician less frequently.

In a new survey, more than half of parents with children ages 8 to 17 who currently need vision correction say their child is interested in wearing contact lenses.

But nearly one-third of those parents have never considered contacts for their child, and another 27 percent haven’t considered it seriously.

The results are somewhat surprising, given other findings of the survey: Parents of kids who currently wear prescription eyeglasses say their child doesn’t like wearing glasses (42 percent), doesn’t always wear them when he should (41 percent) and sometimes feels self-conscious wearing them (40 percent).

The two main reasons parents gave for not being more proactive about contact lens wear for their children: a belief that eyeglasses are easier to clean and care for than contacts (77 percent) and concern about their child’s ability to take proper care of contact lenses (54 percent).

Recent studies, however, demonstrate that most children are capable of caring for soft and silicone hydrogel contact lenses, and wearing contacts may improve a child’s self-perception, especially among girls.

The survey was conducted on behalf of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., the manufacturer of Acuvue brand contact lenses. A full report of the survey can be found on the company’s website.

At least 60 percent of contact lenses prescribed in the United States are silicone hydrogel contacts or daily disposable contacts, according to a recent study conducted by the Centre for Contact Lens Research (Ontario, Canada).

The researchers surveyed 158 eye doctors regarding the types of contact lenses they prescribed for a total of 1,654 patients. The survey was part of a larger study designed to assess patient and eye care practitioner compliance with recommended replacement frequency of contact lenses.

The study found:

• Silicone hydrogel lenses were prescribed for 45 percent of patients and daily disposable contacts were prescribed for 16 percent.
• A very large majority of the contact lenses (92 percent) were prescribed for correction of myopia.
• Toric contact lenses for astigmatism were prescribed for 16 percent of patients and multifocal contacts were prescribed for 3 percent.

Also, 12 percent of patients reported wearing their lenses overnight as extended wear contacts. Even among patients wearing daily disposable lenses, 19 percent reported wearing their contacts overnight occasionally, frequently or almost every night.

Source: What contact lens materials are patients wearing? Contact Lens Spectrum. August 2009.

Colored contacts that enhance or alter the color of one’s eyes are most popular among young females, according to a study appearing in Contact Lens & Anterior Eye, the official journal of the British Contact Lens Association.

According to the researchers, annual survey data regarding contact lens fittings show that those wearing the colored soft lenses are more likely to be female (4.6 percent of all soft lenses fitted versus 1.6 percent for males) and younger than those wearing non-tinted soft contacts.

The mean age of people wearing colored lenses is 27 years (range: 16 to 38 years), whereas the mean age of those wearing non-tinted lenses is 33 years (range: 20 to 46 years), according to the survey data.

People wearing color contact lenses also tend to wear the lenses more on a part-time basis and replace them less frequently than non-tinted lenses, the researchers said.

Source: Patterns of fitting cosmetically tinted contact lenses. Contact Lens & Anterior Eye. (Corrected proof, published online June 19, 2009)

Wearing contact lenses improves self-worth measures among girls, according to the results of a study conducted at five clinical centers in the U.S. by a collaborative team of optometrists and psychologists.

The three-year study, conducted from September 2003 to October 2007, assessed the effects of eyeglasses and contact lenses on the self-perception of nearsighted children ages 8 to 11 years.

A total of 484 nearsighted children (59 percent female) participated in the Adolescent and Child Health Initiative to Encourage Vision Empowerment (ACHIEVE) study. The children were randomly assigned to wear glasses (n=237) or contact lenses (n=247) for three years.

At the end of the three-year period, all children were surveyed using the Self-Perception Profile for Children scale, a proven measurement tool used in numerous studies in the fields of developmental psychology and social development. The scale evaluates self-perception in five areas: scholastic competence, social acceptance, athletic competence, physical appearance and behavioral conduct. It also provides a global measure of self-worth.

Commenting on the results of the study, lead investigator Jeffrey J. Walline, OD, PhD (Ohio State University College of Optometry) said, “Contact lenses significantly improve how children feel about their physical appearance, acceptance among friends and ability to play sports. Contact lenses even make children more confident about their academic performance if they initially dislike wearing glasses.”

Though children in both groups showed changes global self-worth over the three-year treatment period, the change was only significantly different between contact lens wearers and spectacle wearers among girls who reported low levels of satisfaction with eyeglasses at the beginning of the study.

“Girls are particularly vulnerable to social and psychological distress during the transition years of early and middle adolescence and this data suggests that for girls, in particular, a switch from glasses to contact lenses may result in an improvement in self-perception,” said Mitchell J. Prinstein, PhD, Professor and Director of Clinical Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and co-author of the study.

Based on the results of the study, both researchers say contact lenses provide benefits to children beyond simple vision correction, and that parents and eye doctors should take this into consideration when considering eyewear choices for children. 

The ACHIEVE study was supported by funding from Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. (makers of ACUVUE brand contact lenses) and The Vision Care Institute, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson Company.

Source:  Girls’ overall self-worth improves with contact lens wear, study shows. (Press release on the Johnson & Johnson website. June 25, 2009.)

The new LensAlert Contact Lens Care Kit Value Wheel makes it easy to remember when your contact lenses and lens case need to be replaced.

With the LensAlert timer, you can set two separate countdowns for your contacts and case. The display flashes “0” when it’s time for a change. Seven, colorful lens cases are also included in the kit.

Following a replacement schedule is important to reduce your risk for eye infections. The replacement schedule for your contact lenses is specified by your eye doctor.

Typically cases should be replaced at least every three months, although some doctors recommend once a month. If used for too long, lens cases can become hotbeds for bacteria and fungi.

The kit can be purchased online or at optical stores and retail outlets.