Rigid gas‐permeable contact lens related life quality in keratoconic patients with different grades of severity

Abstract

Purpose The aim was to compare the impact of rigid gas‐permeable (RGP) contact lenses on vision‐related quality of life (VR‐QOL) in keratoconic patients with different grades of severity. Methods This comparative study was conducted from December 2012 to September 2013 on 46 patients with bilateral keratoconus. Patients were divided into three groups according to the average of the steep keratometry (K) readings in the two eyes of each patient. Main outcome measures included binocular visual acuity (VA), lens wearing time, the 25‐item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI‐VFQ‐25), foreign body (FB) sensation, comfort and overall satisfaction. Results Patients with severe keratoconus showed significantly reduced wearing time compared with the other two groups (4.8 ± 2.5 hours per day). Regarding the subjective criteria, there was no significant difference on NEI‐VFQ‐25 scores, foreign body sensation, comfort and overall satisfaction between mild and moderate keratoconus groups but scores in the group with severe keratoconus were significantly lower than the other two groups. Binocular VA strongly correlated with NEI‐VFQ‐25 scores; however, NEI‐VFQ‐25 scores had no significant correlations with different disease severities. Conclusions Appropriate correction with RGP lenses contributes to good VR‐QOL for keratoconic patients; however, as the disease progresses to a steep keratometric value of more than 52 dioptres (6.50 mm), RGP lenses did not guarantee a relatively good VR‐QOL. Other lens options with new designs might bring better life quality for these patients with severe keratoconus.

Effect of corneal cross‐linking on contact lens tolerance in keratoconus

“…Wu and colleagues investigated RGP contact lens‐related life quality in keratoconic patients with different grades of severity. They showed that patients with mild and moderate keratoconus were able to achieve a sufficient lens wearing time (mean: 10.4 hours per day; 9.6 hours per day, respectively), whereas the severe keratoconic patients showed a significantly reduced wearing time (mean: 4.8 hours per day).…”

“…If the ordered lenses gave an acceptable fit, vision and comfort, the patient was scheduled for the next visit. Patients were asked to grade the performance of RGP lenses using a Likert scale 15,16 (in which 1 represents very poor and 5 represents excellent) with respect to foreign body sensation, comfort and overall satisfaction preoperatively and three and six months after the CXL procedure. Additionally, regarding lens wearing time, patients were asked to state how many hours a day they had been wearing the lenses.…”

RGP kontakt lenslerin görsel sonuçlarının keratokonus alt gruplarında karşılaştırılması: Kon tipi, kon lokasyonu, hastalığın şiddeti

“…There are several options such as rigid gas-permeable (RGP) contact lenses (5), hybrid contact lenses (6), piggyback lenses (7) and scleral contact lenses (8). RGP lenses are traditionally first choice because of their success in improving visual acuity (9) RPG lenses improve visual acuity by their refractive power and also by flattening the anterior cornea, increasing the thinnest corneal thickness, and reducing anterior surface high-order aberrations (3,4). Previous studies showed that RGP contact lenses provide a significant improvement in visual acuity compared to spectacles-corrected visual acuity in patients with high corneal astigmatism (10), and keratoconus (11).…”

“…Previous studies showed that RGP contact lenses provide a significant improvement in visual acuity compared to spectacles-corrected visual acuity in patients with high corneal astigmatism (10), and keratoconus (11). Previous studies also showed that an appropriate use of RGP contact lenses contributes to good vision-related quality of life for keratoconic patients (9).…”

Partial transepithelial topography-guided PRK combined with corneal collagen crosslinking in patients with keratoconus

“…Some early signs [2,3] of keratoconus are asymmetric refractive error with high or progressive astigmatism, keratometry showing high astigmatism and irregularity, scissoring of the red reflex on retinoscopy, and inferior steepening. The vast majority of keratoconus patients can be visually rehabilitated with glasses or rigid gas permeable lenses [4] (RGPs). In only a small percentage of keratoconus patients is a cornea transplant needed.…”