Toric CLs: comfort linked to subjective vision quality

A Coopervision first-of-its kind investigation has established a link between comfort and subjective vision quality in toric soft contact lens (CL) wearers, potentially decreasing patient dropouts.

The prospective, crossover, randomised, subject-masked study had soft CL wearers sequentially use three types of daily disposable toric lenses over three weeks. Biomicroscopy scores, lens fit, visual acuity, subjective vision quality and subjective ocular surface comfort were recorded at dispensing and follow-up visits.

While differences in visual acuity were not statistically significant, greater comfort scores were observed with greater subjective vision quality scores, suggesting symptoms of ocular discomfort may be more intense if there is also perceived visual compromise in daily disposable soft toric lenses.

“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.