Subjective symptom of eye dryness and lifestyle factors with corneal neovascularization in contact lens wearers.

PURPOSE: To investigate effects of subjective symptom of eye dryness and lifestyle factors on corneal neovascularization (CNV).

METHODS

Subjects were 181 Japanese adults visiting an eye clinic for contact lens (CL) fitting. All completed a self-administered questionnaire related to sex, age, lens material (rigid gas-permeable or hydrogel lens), and subjective eye dryness. Hydrogel lens wearers were restricted to users of either Etafilcon A or Nelfilcon A. The lifestyle factors included weekly working hours on visual display terminal, smoking history, and duration of CL wear. CNV was graded on a 3-point ordinal scale using a slit-lamp and analyzed in logistic regression model: normal appearance (CNV 0), congestion and dilatation or vessel penetration < 1.0 mm (CNV 1), and vessel penetration > or = 1.0 mm (CNV 2).

RESULTS

The prevalence of CNV 2 was 26% (n = 47). Multivariate analysis showed that the following three factors were significantly associated with CNV through the stepwise regression model: a use of a hydrogel lens (odds ratio [OR], 2.55; confidence interval [CI], 1.04-6.25), subjective eye dryness (OR, 2.07; CI, 1.01-4.23), and weekly CL use (OR, 3.08; CI, 1.14-8.00). Additionally, a positive trend was found between the degree of weekly CL use and the severity of CNV (P for trend test = 0.002).

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of CNV in the setting of this study seemed to be higher than that in previous studies, indicating that a regular eye checkup is of paramount importance for eye care. Specifically, ocular symptomology of eye dryness with the information of CL use may be carefully explored in future research.