Do contact lens wearers wash their hands of our advice?

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International survey

Over 4,000 patients in 14 countries were surveyed during the latter half of 2010 to establish their routine lens-wearing habits.1 Particular attention was paid to the steps of lens wear and care which have been shown to be associated with an increased risk of microbial keratitis. The countries were selected on the basis of either high or potentially high use of contact lenses. The contact lens wearing respondents were from an 'access panel' of people who have volunteered to be involved in surveys of this kind. The participants were contacted via email and were asked to complete a web-based survey. While this may seem to skew the selection of contact lens wearers to those with internet access, routine internet use is commonplace among the general population (36-82 per cent of the population of countries surveyed, except India at 8 per cent).2