Visual Performance Of Scleral Lens In Comparison To Soft Lens, And Spectacle Lens Corrections In Young Adults.

Background: There is a relative deficit of research in the area of Scleral Contact Lenses because its resurgence within the optometric profession has been relatively recent. This is particularly true when it comes to the performance comparison of scleral contact lenses relative to soft lens lenses or spectacle lenses.
Purpose: The study evaluated and compared visual performance with Scleral contact lens, Soft lens and Spectacle lens corrections in a group of young adults. Monocular (OD) visual performance was evaluated under photopic conditions by measuring low and high contrast acuities, higher order aberrations and contrast sensitivity with each modality of correction.
Methodology: A sample of patients (N=42) between the age range 21-35 years was included in the study. Testing was done over a period of two days. At the initial visit all subjects were fit with a scleral contact lens over the right eye. Subjects that were not habitual soft contact lens (SCL) wearers were fit with SCL. The following measurements were then made with each mode of optical correction: High and Low Contrast LogMAR acuity (Bailey Lovie Chart), Higher order aberrations (OPD Scan III), and Contrast Sensitivity (Vistech CS Chart).
Conclusions: The Contrast Sensitivity Function of scleral lens wearers was very nearly identical to that with SCL and Spectacles. All subjects showed peak contrast sensitivity at the mid spatial frequencies with a drop in sensitivity at the low and high end, rrespective of correction type. The High and Low Contrast Acuities were very similar in all three groups with an increase in acuity at higher contrast. Under the conditions tested, the visual performance of scleral lenses was very comparable to SCL and spectacle corrections. These results require further validation using a larger sample size in an older, presbyopic group.