[Soft-contact-lenses-induced complications].

BACKGROUND/AIM: Soft contact lenses occupy significant place in ophthalmology, both in the correction of refraction anomalies and in the treatment of many eye diseases. The number of patients that wear soft contact lenses for the purpose of correcting ametropia is constantly increasing. Due to the increasing number of wearers, the percentage of complications that can lead to serious eye damage and serious vision loss is also increasing. The aim of this study was to point out the most common complications related to soft contact lens use.

METHODS

In the period from 1995-2004 this prospective study included 510 patients wearing soft contact lenses for correcting ametropia. None of the patients wore contact lenses before and none suffered from any system or local diseases that could affected the development of eventual complications. The study took seven years with the patients who wore conventional lenses and three years with those who wore replacement contact lenses. All the necessary ophthalmologic examinations were done (visual acuity, refractokeratometry, the quantity of tear film, biomicroscopic examination of anterior eye segment). All the complications were filmed by video camera.

RESULTS

Of all the patients, 19 had blepharitis, 73 suffered from "dry eye", 57 had conjunctival hyperemia, 12 had conjunctivitis, 34 had gigantopapillary conjunctivitis (GPC), 93 had punctiform epitheliopathy, 20 had corneal infiltra tion, one patient had keratitis, 91 had corneal vascularisation, and 95 patients had corneal deposits.

CONCLUSION

Both the type and frequency of complications related to soft contact lens use in our group of patients, proved to be significant. Some of this complications (keratitis) can significantly damage vision and lead to loss of vision and sometimes can require operative treatment.