Proposed performance criteria for extended wear contact lenses

The introduction of silicone-hydrogel materials has changed expectations for the response to contact lenses used in extended wear. In keeping with this technology shift, we have re-evaluated the criteria by which practitioners judge the performance of extended wear lenses. Attendees at the 1999 Annual Clinical Conference of the British Contact Lens Association were surveyed. The proportion of respondents who considered it appropriate to fit selected patients with conventional, disposable and silicone-hydrogel soft lenses for extended wear was 63%, 67% and 86%, respectively. Only 11% of respondents did not fit extended wear because of personal experience with infectious keratitis, and over 50% relied on educators' advice in avoiding this practice. Fifteen per cent of practitioners reported fitting extended wear on occasions. Ninety-five per cent of respondents thought that the relative risk of infectious keratitis with daily wear compared with no lens wear should be ten or less, which was reduced to 60% when it was revealed that the current relative risk is estimated to be 60. A strong preference for a relative risk of infection with extended wear compared to daily wear of less than five times was indicated, which is consistent with current estimates. A minority of respondents were prepared to accept an overnight oedema level of over 6% with extended wear, although silicone-hydrogel materials have been shown to induce less than 4%. A wide variety of microcyst responses were considered reasonable, with many respondents accepting up to 40 per cornea; again, this result contrasted with early research data suggesting a level of 10 microcysts or less occurring with silicone-hydrogel materials. Interpretation of these findings has led us to the following proposals for safe extended wear: (i) extended wear fitting should preferably be done with silicone-hydrogel materials, rather than conventional hydrogels, where the available parameter ranges overlap; (ii) the relative risk of corneal infection with extended wear compared to daily wear should be two to five times, providing the relative risk of daily wear compared to the no lens wear'situation is reduced to 20 times, and (iii) extended wear lenses should produce an average of no more than 4% overnight oedema and no more than 10 microcysts per eye in the long term.