Complications and symptoms with disposable daily wear contact lenses and conventional soft daily wear contact lenses.

We conducted a historical cohort study of 1,954 myopic cosmetic contact lens wearers (1,258 disposable soft daily wear lens users and 696 conventional [nondisposable] soft daily wear lens users). Our aim was to estimate the rates of complications and symptoms among patients using daily wear disposable contact lenses on a regular disposal regimen and to compare these with rates for conventional soft daily wear users. Patients were selected from five contact lens practices in Denmark. Data were abstracted from the eye care practitioners' office records for the period October 1987 through December 1989. Virtually all of the disposable lens users were on a two-week disposal regimen. Overall, the prevalence of complications was significantly lower among the daily wear disposable lens users than among the conventional soft daily wear lens users. The incidence of corneal ulcers did not differ significantly between the two study groups. As compared to conventional soft daily wear lens users, disposable daily wear lens users reported symptoms less frequently at routine scheduled visits and had a lower rate of unscheduled visits for complications and symptoms.