Toric CLs: comfort linked to subjective vision quality

“Some eye care professionals choose to fit spherical contact lenses for lower yet significant amounts of astigmatism, believing there’s little difference for the wearer,” said co-author Gary Orsborn, vice president of global professional, medical and clinical affairs for Coopervision. “Insights from this analysis help confirm a compelling reason to fit toric soft contact lenses for all patients with 0.75DC or more of astigmatism. Discomfort is a leading cause of drop out, so increased use of toric designs with astigmats could increase retention, patient satisfaction and practice success.”

To prevent dropouts, the authors recommend that after paying close attention to toric lens fitting parameters, practitioners should routinely and proactively assess the level of visual satisfaction by wearers while also inquiring about their comfort. “These subjective measures are more likely to indicate fitting success and predict continuation of wear compared to visual acuity alone,” said first author and lead investigator Dr Carole Maldonado-Codina, associate director of the Eurolens Research at The University of Manchester.