Long-Term Effect and Safety of Contact Lenses for Keratoconus

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate the long-term clinical effect and safety of YK-KC lens(R) (LucidKorea Ltd., Seoul, Korea) for keratoconus. METHODS: In this study we investigated 152 keratoconic eyes fitted with YK-KC lens(R) and followed up for at least 5 years. We assessed retrospectively self-reported patient comfort, best corrected visual acuity, corneal topographic indices before and after contact lens fitting and complications during contact lens wearing. RESULTS: The study included 57 male and 40 female patients with a mean age of 28.6 +/- 8.5 years. The mean follow-up was 8.0 +/- 2.9 years. Regarding lens comfort, 126 eyes (82.9%) showed self-reported comfort for YK-KC lenses(R). The mean best corrected visual acuity (log MAR) improved from 0.49 +/- 0.42 before lens fitting to 0.19 +/- 0.27 after lens wearing, which was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Based on the keratometric values, after contact lens fitting both Simulated keratometry (Sim K) max and Sim K min tended to be steeper, but these differences were not statistically significant (p = 0.66 and 0.11, respectively). There were no statistically significant differences between the values before and after fitting with respect to the astigmatic powers (p = 0.22). Complications observed included punctate or coalesced epithelial corneal staining in 24 eyes (16%), however, persistent full-thickness epithelial defect was not observed. CONCLUSIONS: The YK-KC lens(R) in patients with keratoconus can provide excellent visual improvement and comfort without any significant influence on the progression of keratoconus or corneal complications during a long-term follow-up period.