The Incidence of Ulcerative Keratitis among Users of Daily-Wear and Extended-Wear Soft Contact Lenses

Abstract

The wearing of contact lenses has increased dramatically in the past decade; over 4 million people in the United States now use extended-wear soft contact lenses, and 9 million use daily-wear soft contact lenses. Numerous reports have caused concern that the use of soft contact lenses, especially extended-wear lenses, may result in a substantial risk of ulcerative keratitis. To examine this issue, we conducted a prospective study in five New England states to estimate the incidence of ulcerative keratitis among those who use cosmetic extended-wear and daily-wear soft contact lenses. To obtain the numerator for each estimate of incidence, we surveyed all practicing ophthalmologists in the study area to identify all new cases diagnosed over a four-month period. To provide the denominator, we conducted a survey of 4178 households to estimate the number of persons who wore each type of soft contact lens. The annualized incidence of ulcerative keratitis was estimated to be 20.9 per 10,000 persons using extended-wear soft contact lenses for cosmetic purposes and 4.1 per 10,000 persons using daily-wear soft contact lenses for cosmetic purposes (P less than 0.00001).

Risk factors for contact lens-related microbial keratitis in Singapore

“…Epidemiological studies of contemporary contact lenses have estimated the incidence of microbial keratitis in daily wear at 3 to 5 per 10 000 lens wearers per year, with incidence varying according to wear modality. [2][3][4][5][6] Risk factors that have been consistently identified may be categorised into either modifiable or nonmodifiable risk factors. Modifiable risk factors include extended and overnight contact lens wear, 7,8 poor hand hygiene, 4,9 infrequent or omission of lens disinfection, 7,8 case hygiene and case replacement, 6,10 and smoking.…”

Avaliação da ação antimicrobiana de soluções multiuso para desinfecção de lentes de contato hidrofílicas, in vitro

“…A incidência anual estimada de ceratite para cada 10.000 usuários é de 4,1% para LC hidrofílicas de uso diário, 20,9% para LC hidrofílicas de uso contínuo, 2% para LC rígidas de polimetilmetacrilato e 4% para LC rígidas gás permeáveis (6) .…”

Incidence and risk factors for microbial keratitis in Hong Kong: comparison with Europe and North America

“…With the growth of the CL user population since the 1980s, this factor has increased as the primary predisposing cause for microbial keratitis (MK) in the USA but not for Scotland and England. 2,3 Risk factors such as extended wear of the lens, especially sleeping with the lens in the eye, have been described 4,5 but have never been investigated in a subtropical Far East climate.…”