Prospects for contact lens wear in aphakia

Abstract

The success rate and complications for contact lens wear in 366 aphakic patients were evaluated retrospectively over a mean follow-up period of 36 months. Successful use of a daily wear contact lens (DWCL) was related to lens handling ability. In unilateral aphakia it was 86 per cent (1611187) for patients under 70 years old but only 27 per cent (19/70) for those over 70 years (p = <0.0001). This age related difference did not occur either for the use of a second lens, following successful use of a lens after the first cataract extraction, for which the overall success rate was 89 per cent (55/62) or for simultaneous bilateral lens fitting, which had a success rate of 81 per cent (38/47). Extended wear soft contact lenses (EWSCL) were fitted to patients unable to use DWCLs but only half were successful (21/40). There was no difference in the incidence of complications between daily wear soft and daily wear hard contact lenses or young (up to 44 years), middle aged (45-69 years) and elderly (over 70 years) patients, for the use of all DWCLs. However the risk of a serious complication was six times greater for patients using EWSCL (55 per cent) compared with those using DWCLs (8.8 per cent). DWCLs are a safe and successful method of aphakia correction for patients under 70 years of age. Once the ability to handle a DWCL has been learned, success is maintained when the second eye is fitted. EWSCLs have a high complication rate and a low success rate in patients unable to use DWCLs; other methods of aphakia correction should be considered first in this group. © 1988, The Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom. All right reserved.