Clinical comparison of opaque tint soft contact lenses

Abstract The study was designed to compare five types of blue opaque tint lenses (PBH Natural Touch; WJ Durasoft D3-OP, D2-OP, and D3-CO; and Ciba Illusions) with respect to vision, fit, comfort, and ocular physiologic response. Performance reliability was evaluated, at least in part, by comparing one of the lenses (Natural Touch) across repeated wearing sessions. Ten adapted soft contact lens patients wore the Natural Touch lens on one eye, paired in random successive order with each of the other lenses on the contralateral eye, over four separate wearing days. On each day, spectacle refraction and high- and low-contrast/illumination logMAR acuities were measured, followed before and after lens wear, by the evaluation of corneal thickness (pachometry), topography, and corneal/conjunctival staining, as well as lens fit, surface properties, logMAR acuities with over-refraction, and comfort. The opaque tinted lenses all yielded less than optimal visual acuity (average, two to three letters below spherical equivalent spectacle acuity) and occasional reports of haziness or poor quality vision. The lenses were similar in fitting characteristics, with lens centers sometimes deviating up to 0.4 mm from the anatomic pupillary midpoint, despite excellent limbal centration. Although surface properties and mean comfort were acceptable and comparable for all five lenses, the DuraSoft 3 lens tended to become significantly less comfortable with wear. Corneal swelling (average, 1.8%) was induced by all of the low-water-content lenses (Natural Touch, D2-OP, Illusions), whereas transient corneal flattening (superior) and corneal staining (inferior) were associated with one of the higher water content lenses (D3-CO). The clinical response measures were all highly reliable for the Natural Touch lens across repeated wearing days. The results suggest that the opaque tint lenses evaluated do not differ substantially from one another in shortterm daily wear clinical performance. Clinicians can therefore prescribe opaque tint lenses on the basis of cosmetics and the proposed wearing schedule, with awareness that the quality or sharpness of vision may be reduced, especially under low-contrast/illumination conditions.