Daily contact lens wear. A three year follow-up

One hundred subjects wearing contact lenses (mainly soft lenses) on a daily basis for non-medical reasons were followed for 3 years. Visual performance was very satisfactory. The lenses were replaced at an average interval of 20.3 months. During the 3 year period 18 patients suffered from eye disease/changes, 17 of which had to be treated by an ophthalmologist: 8 cases of conjunctivitis, 5 cases of virus keratitis, 4 cases of corneal oedema (2 caused by overwear of lens, 1 by a too step fit and 1 by intolerance despite a perfect fit), and 1 case of unacceptable vascular reaction. Some of the infections might not have been related to contact lens wear. All changes healed well with no sequelae. One patient was hospitalized for 2 days. Each incident required 2.8 visits to an ophthalmologist and 7.4 weeks of discountinued lens wear, on the average. Details from patient history and objective findings recorded at the first examination of subjects accepted for lens wear did not seem to correlate well with later eye disease/changes. 11 subjects stopped lens wear. This was in no case mandatory, the most common reason being decreasing motivation. The results appear quite satisfactory.