Extended wear fails to catch on

Extended wear (EW) contact lenses have not caught on among patients or eye care practitioners, according to research led by Professor Nathan Efron of the Queensland University of Technology in Australia.

Fourteen years of data (1997-2010) from eye care practitioners in 39 countries, revealed EW lenses peaked in 2006 at 12 per cent of all soft lens prescriptions, dropping to 7.8 per cent in 2010, according to the latest issue of Optometry and Vision Science.

Efron and co-authors speculated that EW lenses were more likely to be worn by older, experienced users and some men who found them convenient for sports. Even among EW wearers there was a reluctance to wear them continuously for the full month, with most using some lens care solution. Nearly 30 per cent of EW lens prescriptions were for conventional hydrogel lenses.