Purpose: To assess the effect of two silicone hydrogel contact lenses with high oxygen permeability in patients having photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).
Setting: Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Methods: Sixty patients (120 eyes) who had bilateral PRK were enrolled in this double blind clinical trial. Each patient was fitted with a Lotrafilcon B (Air Optix(®)AQUA, Ciba Vision, Duluth, GA, USA) lens in one eye and a Balafilcon A (PureVision™ Bausch & Lomb, Rochester, NY, USA) lens in the fellow eye. Patients' responses to a subjective questionnaire in terms of pain, foreign body sensation, photophobia, blurred vision and epiphora were evaluated on the first and third postoperative days.
Results: Mean pain score for Lotrafilcon B and Balafilcon A contact lenses was 4.43±3.18 vs. 5.45±3.37 on the first postoperative day and 3.43±3.23 vs. 3.88±3.01 on the third postoperative day. However, the difference was only significant in the first 24h after surgery (P=0.032). Foreign body sensation was clinically higher with Balafilcon A contact lens (5.0±3.47 vs. 4.08±3.34 on day 1 and 4.98±3.52 vs. 3.55±3.20 on day 3) and the difference was statistically significant on the first and the third postoperative days (P=0.042 and 0.002, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference between two contact lenses in terms of photophobia, epiphora and blurred vision (P>0.05).
Conclusion: The Lotrafilcon B lens resulted in significantly less postoperative pain and discomfort after PRK, especially in the first 24h after PRK.
Keywords: Bandage contact lens; Photorefractive keratectomy; Silicone hydrogel contact lens.
Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.