University students fail to comply with contact lens care

How Can We Better Inform Patients of the Importance of Contact Lens Compliance?: Current Perspectives

Compliance with contact lens care is important for successful contact lens wear and for minimizing the risk of complications related to lens wear. There are many components of overall lens care guidelines that may potentially be disregarded, forgotten, or misunderstood. Literature has reported copious data on rates of poor compliance for separate lens care recommendations. Knowing the areas of contact lens care where lens wearers perform poorly is helpful when creating strategies for improving patient education. As science evolves and new best-practices are determined, eye care providers must be engaged in educating new lens wearers and reeducating existing wearers. It is vital to make wearers mindful of proper lens care and why proper lens care should be important to them. Various educational strategies can help practitioners to communicate with their patients more effectively. The purpose of this narrative review is to discuss studies of noncompliance with contact lens wear; consequences of these noncompliant behaviors; and studies of lens care education which were found with a literature search. The resulting discussion also includes strategies to improve compliance with patient contact lens wear.

Compliance of Soft Contact Lens Care and Bacterial Contamination Among University Students in Palestine

PURPOSE

This study investigated the contact lens care compliance, noncompliance reasons, bacterial contamination rate, and the behaviors associated with contamination among university students in Palestine.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

133 Habitual soft contact lens wearers were recruited in this study and interviewed using a face-to-face questionnaire, to obtain data on demographics, contact lenses, modifiable lens care behaviors and the reasons for non-compliance. High, moderate, and low lens care behaviors were identified. Additionally, a sample of the participant's storage cases was collected for bacterial contamination testing.

RESULTS

The participants' mean age was 22.4±4.4, with female predominance (62.4%). The average compliance rate was 76.8%. Total CL care compliance (100%) was found in filling the case with adequate solution, not sharing the lenses or storage case with others, while the poorest compliance (>40%) was found in attending after-care visits, checking the solution's expiry, and re-disinfecting the lenses with a fresh solution before insertion after prolonged storage. Poor understanding of the instructions contributed significantly to a low level of compliance (P≤0.05). Gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria were detected in 19.55% of the participants' cases. Poor hand and case hygiene, no replacement of lens cases (monthly), and water exposure were linked to bacterial contamination of storage cases.

CONCLUSION

This study indicated moderate to high compliance in CL care, averaging 76.8%. Poor compliance was found in attending after-care visits, checking the solution's expiry, and re-disinfecting the lenses with a fresh solution after an extended storage interval. 19.55% of the cases had bacterial contamination, with Staphylococcus Aureus being the most common. Poor hand and lens case hygiene and water exposure are found to be associated with lens case contamination. These findings emphasize the importance of patient education on safer lens wear modalities, proper wearing schedules, and hygiene regimens to reduce the risks of developing contact lens complications.

Assessment of dry eye symptoms among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

The synchronous hybrid learning environment is associated with increased time spent by students working with VDT and increased prevalence of dry eye symptoms in a university-based population.

BACKGROUND

To assess the prevalence of dry eye symptoms using the ocular surface disease index (OSDI) questionnaire in university students and to identify whether factors such as the synchronous hybrid learning environment as a preventive measure of COVID-19, video display terminal use, gender or contact lens wear influence dry eye symptomatology.

METHODS

This study was performed using a web-based questionnaire that was distributed to university students to assess questions related to class attendance, to the use of video display terminals, the need for optical correction and, finally, the OSDI questionnaire.

RESULTS

A total of 676 university students with an average age of 20.7 ± 2.9 years completed the questionnaire, of which 72.6% (491) were females and 27.4% (185) were males. Only 10.2% of the participants attended face to face classes. Of the participants, 35.5% were contact lens wearers. The mean OSDI score of the study population was 27.68 ± 20.09 and the prevalence of symptomatic dry eye disease (OSDI score above 22) was 51.8%. Female gender (X²(3) = 38.605, p < 0.001), online class attendance (X²(1) = 20.31; p < 0.001), increased hours of online class attendance (X²(2) = 26.84, p < 0.001) and contact lens wear (X²(2) = 15.264, p < 0.05) were associated with a higher incidence of symptomatic dry eye disease.

CONCLUSION

The synchronous hybrid learning environment increases the time students spend working with video display terminals and the prevalence of dry eye symptoms. Female gender and contact lens wear were also associated with a higher prevalence of dry eye symptoms. It should not be ignored that dry eye could also affect academic performance.