Large numbers of young people are experiencing night vision problems with their daily disposable contact lenses according to research commissioned by Bausch & Lomb.
In a European survey of 600 16-25 year-olds a third reported night vision problems such as blurring, while a quarter reported haloes, a fifth cited lack of contrast and 17 per cent glare. ICM Research found that many young people avoided low light situations when wearing their contact lenses and avoided activities such as driving at night.
B&L claimed that many of these issues could be avoided by using its SofLens daily disposable which uses an aspheric design.
'Spherical aberration is one of the most disturbing higher-order aberrations in terms of quality of vision,' said Dr Peter Unsbo of Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology. He added this was especially apparent when driving at night.
A trial of 133 daily disposable wearers showed 46 per cent experienced better quality of vision at night while wearing SofLens daily disposable lenses compared to 1-Day Acuvue brands, and 23 per cent compared to Focus Dailies. The research claimed that two-thirds of young people were not asked about their night vision by their eye care professional.
Bausch & Lomb said studies had shown that dissatisfaction with vision was a key reason for discontinuation with contact lenses.