Extended fear

Extended wear (EW) lenses - for continuous wear for up to a month - haven't caught on among patients or eye care practitioners, according to research led by Professor Nathan Efron of the Queensland University of Technology in Australia http://www.newswise.com/articles/extended-wear-contact-lenses-aren-t-capturing-the-market. Looking at 14 years of data (1997-2010), EW lenses, which can be made of silicone hydrogel, peaked in 2006 at 12 per cent of all soft lens prescriptions, dropping to 7.8 per cent in 2010. Researchers believe that safety concerns are behind the limited acceptance of extended wear of the lenses, with SiH much more likely to be worn on a daily wear basis as I do. It was thought that older, experienced contact lens wearers and those who found them convenient for sports were more likely to use them. Even among the EW wearers there was a reluctance to wear them continuously for the full month, with most using some form of lens care solution. Even a now much lower risk of ocular complications than with the first EW lenses seems to be enough to put off the prescribing of EW.