[Is it still Necessary to Discontinue Using Daily Wear Soft Contact Lenses for a Period before LASIK?]

The aim of this study was to verify whether soft contact lenses (SCL) can have a clinically significant impact on refraction before LASIK.

Retrospective analysis of 113 eyes for which the refraction was measured initially and after discontinuing soft contact lenses for at least 7 days. Both spherical and cylindrical measurements were performed. In addition, the difference between postoperative refraction and the target refraction for these eyes was calculated for both spherical and cylindrical refraction.

In 8 % (18 %) of the eyes, the spherical or cylindrical refraction changed by 0.5 dioptre or more after a week of not wearing soft contact lenses. Total spherical refraction changed by an average of 0.15 dioptre (p = 0.58) and cylindrical refraction by 0.18 dioptre (p = 0.006). After LASIK, the difference between postoperative and target refraction was significantly different for both spherical refraction (0.3 dioptre) and for cylindrical refraction (0.21 dioptre).

The differences in the measurements during this study suggest that a modern soft contact lenses should still be discontinued before LASIK. The optimal duration of the discontinuation remains to be determined.