Continuous Wear of Hydrogel Contact Lenses for Therapeutic Use

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy and complications of continuous wear of etafilcon A for therapeutic use. Materials and Methods: The subjects were 228 eyes of 219 outpatients prescribed Contact Lens (CL) for one week of continuous therapeutic wear during 10 years. The reason for prescription of CLs, the primary disease, the duration of CL wear and the complications were assessed retrospectively. Results: The predominant reason for prescription of CLs was relief of pain or a foreign-body sensation (62.3%) and protection of the corneal epithelium (20.6%). The primary disease was post-penetrating keratoplasty (36.8%), followed by corneal epithelial erosion (14.5%), post-lamellar keratoplasty (14.0%) and bullous keratopathy (12.2%). The average duration of wearing single lens was 6.5 ± 3.2 days. The average duration of wearing CLs in total was 9.2 ± 10.7 months. The most frequent problem associated with continuous wear of CLs was their dropping out of CLs (12.3%). The complications associated with CLs included conjunctivitis with papillary hyperplasia, corneal erosion and superficial punctate keratitis, but corneal ulcer and corneal infiltrates were not found. Conclusion: Serious complications were not shown changing the lenses every week to keep to the prescribed time limit for continuous therapeutic wear, even if corneal epithelial barrier function is impaired.

A Case of Atypical Mucin Balls Wearing Extended Wear of Silicone Hydrogel Lens for Therapeutic Use

“…Contact lenses are not only used for correcting refractive errors but also for therapeutic purposes in the treatment of corneal epithelial disorders, ocular surface protection, and alleviation of pain [7, 8]. Theoretically, silicone hydrogel lenses show high oxygen permeability and can be worn continuously for one week or one month [9, 10].…”

Iris rubeosis and hyphema caused by chemical injury due to household detergent

“…On the other hand, a bandage soft contact lens (SCL) is used for treating a persistent corneal epithelial defect to prevent exfoliation of corneal epithelial cells, to protect from mechanical damage, and to maintain the wettability of the ocular surface 1–6. Bacterial contamination using bandage disposable SCL is also reported,7,8 and causes bacterial keratitis and infectious endophthalmitis in severe cases 9,10…”