The comparison between spherical scleral contact lenses and soft toric lenses fit on eyes with astigmatism

Background: Soft contact lenses are a common option offered by eye care providers to correct refractive error. A less frequently used method of correcting refractive error is scleral contact lenses. The visual performance of scleral and soft contact lenses have been compared in several recent studies.1, 2, 3, 4 Many studies, though, were limited by the amount of time the lens was on the eye and the wear schedule of each lens.1, 2, 3 These studies also did not take into account the performance of each lens outside of the clinical setting, and minimal data was collected regarding the subjective evaluation of each lens. Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the visual performance and overall patient satisfaction of scleral contact lenses as compared to soft toric contact lenses over the period of one week. Methods: Subjects were required to wear each lens modality for one week to evaluate the visual performance and overall satisfaction with each lens modality. Performance measures included visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and glare. Subject satisfaction with each modality was recorded through a survey that focused on visual performance during different activities of daily living, the physical handling of the lenses, and the comfort of the lenses. Each individual was fit with one pair of Art Optical Ampleye scleral contact lenses and one pair of CooperVision Biofinity toric contact lenses. After each fit, the subject wore the lenses for one week and reported the visual performance and comfort under different activities of daily living. Results: All subjects reported that they preferred insertion of the soft toric contact lenses compared to the scleral lenses. No other statistically significant conclusions could be gathered from the data collected. A larger sample size is needed to further study this subject with statistical relevance.