Evaluation of night vision disturbances in contact lens wearers.

PURPOSE: We quantitatively recorded and evaluated night vision disturbances with physiologically dilated pupils. We compared the amount of image degradation experienced in eyes wearing spherical soft contact lenses with the amount of image degradation experienced by subjects wearing spectacles.

METHODS

We prospectively evaluated 69 eyes from 35 myopic subjects with no ocular pathology. The subjects ranged in age from 22 to 35 years. We designed a test to quantitatively record image degradation with physiologically dilated pupils in scotopic conditions of dim ambient light. Previously, we have shown that this test accurately measures image degradation. We used this test to compare image degradation between new spherical soft contact lens and spectacle correction. Hyperopes and eyes with greater than 1.50 D of astigmatism were excluded.

RESULTS

Adequately correcting myopic refractive error decreased recorded image degradation (P < or = 0.0001). There was no significant difference in the amount of image degradation between spectacle trial frames and new spherical soft contact lenses (P < or = 0.2885).

CONCLUSIONS

Our test offers an objective method of assessing night vision disturbances in contact lens wearers. Our results suggest that image degradation, which may contribute to the sensation of glare experienced by some patients, is influenced equally by contact lens and spectacle correction.