Contact Lens Comfort Maintained Throughout the Day With Monthly Replacement Lens

Contact lens comfort may persist throughout the day while wearing a monthly replacement contact lens, according to research published in Clinical Optometry. While extended wear throughout the day may result in less comfort with time, patients who wear them continue to report satisfactory comfort — even after 14 to 16 hours of wear, according to the report.

Researchers enrolled 48 established contact lens wearers (mean age, 26.2 years; 71% women) and fit study participants with a monthly replacement contact lens. Participants reported contact lens comfort levels using a visual analog scale (VAS) scaled between -0.50 and +0.50 (negative score, discomfort; positive score, comfort) at application and at 8, 10, 12, and 16 hours of wear. The investigators recorded these reports on days 1 through 5, at 2 weeks, and at 1 month via text messaging.

Overall, study participants wore their lenses 14.80 hours per day during the 1-month study duration. The cohort consistently reported high levels of contact lens comfort (mean VAS, ≥31.26 at all points) throughout the day, but mean comfort VAS scores did significantly decrease with increased wear time throughout the day (all days, P ≤.02). However, there were no significant differences in VAS scores during comparisons made at the same time of day throughout the study duration (all times, P ≥.06). 

“[M]any active patients wish to wear their CLs for 16 or more hours per day,” according to the researchers. “These data provide evidence that innovative CLs such as the study CL, and likely future iterations, have the potential to help CL adherence and curb CL dropout rates.”

Study limitations include the use of only 1 brand of contact lenses and the exclusion of symptomatic contact lens wearers.