Contact lens discomfort and associated conditions: Definitions and disambiguation relative to dry eye disease

Terminology used in relation to contact lens discomfort, and its associated conditions has proliferated, leading to confusion and misuse. This short article demonstrates that the lexicon can be reduced to four terms, which are sufficient to describe the field. These are contact lens discomfort (CLD), contact lens associated dry eye (CLADE), contact lens induced dry eye (CLIDE) and dry eye disease (DED). Definitions for these conditions are clarified and their diagnostic pathways described. Exclusive use of these defined terms is recommended to avoid future misunderstanding, simplify clinical differential diagnosis, maximise treatment efficacy and facilitate the interpretation of research outputs by promoting characterisation of homogenous study groups.