Dean Butler's challenge to the British Contact Lens Association over online contact lens compliance poses some interesting questions.
One the one hand it could be argued that if a wearer buys their contact lenses online they have less interaction with an optical professional and are therefore less well-versed in care and hygiene. They are not quizzed over how they look after their lenses or given a telling off for overwear. They are not checked for sign of overwear or infection. Many contact lens websites do not insist on seeing an up to date prescription allowing those with prescriptions over two years old to buy lenses at their will.
On the other hand those buying on the web do so with ease and, it could be argued, have a ready supply of lenses to hand.They may pay less so buy more, they often take care in making sure they are getting the right lenses or even trade up. The availability of lenses is something that researchers have proven does aid contact lens compliance with replacement.So perhaps just having lenses to hand is a positive?
It's not all good news though, poor compliance is rfie.The Vistakon study in Canada and the US also showed that on average biweekly wearers replaced their lenses every 3.3 weeks and monthly wearers every 5.6 weeks.