ABSTRACT
Sixty-three daily wear contact lens patients (42 non-allergic [66.7%] and 21 allergic [33.3%]) were randomized into three groups (CSI vs. Surevue; Focus vs. CSI; Focus vs. Surevue) and evaluated every two weeks for six months with regard to patient preferences and ranked symptom responses for 14 variables, including overall contact lens preference. Allergic patients (43.9 +/- 94.3 ng/mL) revealed significantly higher (P = .011) tear IgE levels versus non-allergic patients (15.6 +/- 25.8 ng/mL). Non-allergic patients preferred CSI over Surevue for 12 of 14 variables including overall lens preference (P < .001); CSI over Focus for 6 of 14 variables, including overall lens preference (P < .009); and Focus over Surevue for 13 of 14 variables, including overall lens preference (P < .001). In contrast, allergic patients preferred Focus over CSI for 8 of 14 variables; CSI over Surevue for 4 of 14 variables, including overall lens preference (P < .001); Focus over Surevue for 4 of 14 variables, including overall lens preference (P < .001). Surevue and Focus lenses were replaced at 4 and 8 week intervals, respectively. No significant differences in the ranked symptom responses were observed for Surevue at 4 weeks versus 2 weeks, or for Focus at 8 weeks versus 4 weeks. A regression of time versus symptom responses for non-allergic patients wearing the CSI lens revealed decreasing symptoms over time, while the allergic patients showed no significant difference.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)