Comparison Between Viscous Teardrops and Saline Solution to Fill Orthokeratology Contact Lenses Before Overnight Wear

OBJECTIVE: To compare, in terms of efficacy, the differences between the use of saline solution and a viscous artificial tear to fill the lens during the first month of orthokeratology wear. METHODS: A pilot, double-masked, crossed, randomized, and prospective study was conducted. In this study, 20 subjects (14 males and 6 females) with a mean age of 16.29±6.22 years (range, 10-26) were fitted with orthokeratology contact lenses. For the study, nonpreserved 0.9% NaCl commercial saline solution (Avizor, Madrid, Spain) and nonpreserved artificial teardrops with 0.3% of hyaluronic acid (Ocudry 0.3%; Avizor, Madrid, Spain) were used. Corneal staining, tear break up time (TBUT), topography, refraction, visual acuity, and subjective comfort and vision with the visual analog scale (score from 0 to 10, being 10 better comfort and vision) were evaluated at 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month of contact lens wear. RESULTS: The corneal staining was statistically greater in the saline group than in the Ocudry group for the first day and during 1 week of wear (P0.05). CONCLUSION: Viscous artificial tears improve the subjective comfort of patients and reduce the corneal staining, compared with saline solution during the orthokeratology lenses fitting process. However, no differences between solutions for the treatment efficacy, in vision and corneal topography, were found. [Publisher abstract]AVIZOR2.386 JCR (2018) Q2, 21/60 Ophthalmology0.824 SJR (2018) Q2, 38/126 Ophthalmology, 758/2844 Medicine (miscellaneous)No data IDR 2018UE