Clinical and overnight corneal swell comparison of the 1-Day Acuvue lens versus the Medalist, Surevue, Biomedics, and Acuvue lenses.

PURPOSE: We characterized the clinical performance of the 1-Day Acuvue contact lens by direct comparison with four frequently prescribed daily wear lenses.

METHODS

Forty-eight patients participated in four prospective, randomized masked clinical trials using the 1-Day Acuvue in one eye and the Medalist, Surevue, Acuvue (regular), and Biomedics 55 lenses in the other eye. Each trial lasted 2 weeks. Thirteen symptom variables and overall lens preference were evaluated using a patient preference questionnaire and a symptom-ranking questionnaire. Overnight corneal swell studies were also performed.

RESULTS

In the non-allergic (58.4%) subgroup, the overall lens preference variable revealed a significant preference for the Medalist (P = .004), Surevue (P < .001), and Biomedics 55 (P < .001) lenses. In contrast, in the allergic (41.6%) subgroup, the overall lens preferences for the Medalist, Surevue, and Biomedics 55 lenses were completely absent. Multivariate regression analysis in the non-allergic subgroup revealed that lens comfort (.58, P < .001), lens handling upon insertion (.41, P < .001), and quality of vision (.35, P < .001) were significant variables contributing to patient responses regarding overall lens preference. However, in the allergic subgroup, only the lens comfort (.92, P < .001) variable is significant and appears to dominate the decision making. The overnight corneal swell evaluation revealed no significant differences between the 1-Day Acuvue and the Medalist lens. Patients wearing regular Acuvue had significantly less corneal swelling upon awakening (P = .005) and at 60 minutes after awakening (P = .003).

CONCLUSIONS

The Medalist, Surevue, and Biomedics 55 lenses outperformed the 1-Day Acuvue lens in the non-allergic subgroup. In the allergic subgroup, there was no statistically significant difference between the 1-Day Acuvue lens and all other lenses tested.