Compliance with safety glasses wear in monocular children

Many ophthalmologists prescribe polycarbonate "safety glasses" to protect the remaining eye of monocular patients. Others do not routinely do so when the remaining eye is emmetropic since they feel compliance is poor. To evaluate compliance with safety glasses wear in these children, we reviewed the charts of all children (< 21 years old) treated with enucleation and followed at the University of Iowa by the Pediatric Ophthalmology Service between 1962 and 1991. Safety glasses were defined as polycarbonate lenses in a frame suitable for protective wear with spherical equivalent < or = -0.75 or < or = +2.00 diopters. Fifty-six patients were followed after enucleation. Forty-six of these patients met the inclusion criteria and 33 patients were available for follow up. Eighty-five percent of patients wear safety glasses > or = 50% of their waking hours; 61% wear them > or = 80% of the time; 33% wear them 100% of their waking hours. Twenty-one of the 33 patients participate in sports. One hundred percent of the female participants and 80% to 93% of the male participants wear safety glasses, goggles, or face shields during sports. Fifteen of the 33 respondents reported at least one potentially serious accident in which the safety glasses had protected the good eye. Compliance with safety glasses wear appears to be good in this population and may prevent injury to the remaining eye.