Residual astigmatism in hard and soft contact lens wearers

Residual astigmatism in a group of hard contact lens wearers and an equal size group of soft contact lens wearers was compared. Generally, the criteria used were to fit patients with refractive astigmatism greater than 0.75 D with hard lenses and those with refractive astigmatism of 0.25 D or less with soft ones. Those with refractive astigmatism between 0.25 D and 0.75 D were fitted with either modality depending upon other factors. The amount of residual astigmatism in the two groups proved to be nearly equal.