Soft contact lens care systems and corneal staining in Hong Kong-Chinese

One hundred and ninety two patient files (for the year September 1995-September 1996) from the Contact Lens Clinic of The Department of Optometry & Radiography, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University were surveyed. A total of 117 patients mostly using three lens care systems (CIBA VISION AOSept, Allergan Oxysept 1-step and Bausch & Lomb Multipurpose solution (MPS)) were included in this retrospective study of the incidence of corneal staining in patients using different lens care systems. The incidence and severity of staining observed was significantly higher and worse respectively in patients using MPS than in patients using the peroxide systems. Corneal staining was observed in 32.3% of the patients using AOSept, in 17.8% of the patients using Oxysept 1-step, and in 70.7% of the patients using MPS system. However, these percentages did not take into account other factors (which we assumed to be affecting the three groups equally) which may have caused some of the corneal staining observed. Of the patients who had corneal staining: 31% (9/29) of the patients using MPS system changed to peroxide system, and 38% (11/29) of the patients were re-educated on proper lens care; 77% (14/18) of the patients using the peroxide systems did not use proper care procedures. The tear stability and volume of HK-Chinese have been reported to be low compared to those reported for Caucasians, which may render Hong Kong-Chinese soft contact lens wearers more prone to adverse reactions to preservatives and to rapid deposit formation. The majority of the patients with corneal staining did not complain of any ocular discomfort even when severe staining was observed.