The primary aim of this study is to understand if orthokeratology can be used to improve contact lens comfort and the secondary aim is understand patient adaptation to orthokeratology.
Orthokeratology has yet to be fully explored for the treatment of contact lens discomfort (CLD), though some support for this practice exists in the literature. Carracedo et al., Lipson et al., and Garcia-Porta et al. found that orthokeratology resulted in better ocular comfort than soft contact lenses. Nevertheless, all three studies excluded subjects who had been diagnosed with dry eye and all three studies used symptoms surveys that were not specific to assessing CLD. Garcia-Porta et al.'s study was also limited by including both neophytes and established contact lens wearers. Yet, these studies overall suggest that orthokeratology could be used as a treatment for CLD, and one case report has even found that orthokeratology is a viable option for treating contact lens intolerance. To date, there has yet to be a study fully investigating orthokeratology as an alternative to soft contact lens use in patients with CLD. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to formally investigate if orthokeratology is a good alternative to soft contact lenses for patients who are experiencing CLD or for patients who have dropped out of contact lenses because of CLD. This study will also simultaneously evaluate the neophyte orthokeratology wearing experience with hopes of finding additional means for improving contact lens comfort. Knowing the success of orthokeratology in wearers with CLD will allow practitioners to better help and prescribe for those who may have experienced or at risk for experiencing CLD. It may also be a way to allow patients additional years of contact lens wear.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
46
Orthokeratology is a type of contact lens that is worn over night to reduce refractive error, so patients do not need to wear vision correction during the day.
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Contact Lens Comfort
Contact lens comfort was measured with the Contact Lens Dry Eye Questionnaire-8 (Range = 0 to 28 with lower scores being better). Subjects were required to have Contact Lens Dry Eye Questionnaire-8 (CLDEQ-8) scores of 12 or greater in order to participate in this study.
Time frame: 1 Month Compared to Baseline
Contact Lens Comfort
Contact lens comfort was measured with the Contact Lens Dry Eye Questionnaire-4 (Range = 0 to 18 with lower scores being better).
Time frame: 1 Week Compared to Baseline
Contact Lens Comfort
Eye comfort will be measured with the Contact Lens Dry Eye Questionnaire-4 (Range = 0 to 18 with lower scores being better).
Time frame: 3 Month Compared to Baseline
Non-Invasive Tear Break-Up Time
This is a measure of tear stability (Measured in seconds with higher amounts of time being better).
Time frame: 1 Month Compared to Baseline
Tear Meniscus Height
This is a measure of tear volume (Measured in millimeters with higher heights being better).
Time frame: 1 Month Compared to Baseline
Phenol Red Thread
This is a measure of tear volume (Range = 0 to 75 millimeters with higher values being better).
Time frame: 1 Month Compared to Baseline
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