The incidence of corneal infiltrates and ulcers in daily and extended wear clinical trials

Purpose: To determine the incidence of corneal infiltrates during daily (DW) and extended wear (EW) of hydrogel contact lenses. Methods: The records of 922 subjects (750 DW and 172 EW) from 1988 to 1995 were retrospectively analysed. These studies ranged in duration from 2 months to 2 years with the majority at 3 months. A wide variety of conventional, disposable and frequent replacement low and high water content lenses were studied with a wide range of disinfecting systems. Results: The 3 month incidence figures were:_ers .07% Extended Wear 57.0% 16.6% 2.0% Conclusions: This analysis reveals a high incidence of infiltrates for daily wear and a much higher incidence for extended wear than has previously been reported. The ulcer rate was also much higher for EW than DW than previously reported.