Corneal staining debate

Corneal staining and its clinical relevance or otherwise has been one of the hottest topics this year, and interest shows no sign of abating in the year to come.

The debate centres on the Andrasko Corneal Staining Grid,1 which reports the average staining area with various lens/solution combinations after two hours of lens wear (Optician, March 1). Funded by Alcon, the grid has now been available online for over a year and its developers Dr Gary Andrasko and Dr Kelly Ryen have since published some of their findings in the US.2

In the September issue of Contact Lens Spectrum, researchers at the Institute for Eye Research (IER) in Sydney, Australia, published new data on solution-induced staining in silicone hydrogel wear which they said showed 'deficiencies' in the staining grid.