Extended-Wear Soft Contact Lenses for Aphakic Correction

Evaluation of an extended-wear perfilcon A soft contact lens (Permalens) in 299 eyes of 244 patients showed that 266 eyes (89%) were successfully fitted and wore the lenses without important complications (mean follow-up, 23 months; range, four to 48 months). Use of the lens in 33 eyes was discontinued because of transient lens-related problems. "Overcorrected" acuity of 6/12 (20/40) or better (with spectacles plus the contact lens) was achieved in all patients who were without vitreous, retinal, or optic nerve disease. Seventy-six percent of patients could wear the lens for longer than one-month intervals, and 30% removed the lens at four- to six-month intervals. There were no cases of infectious corneal ulcers or scarring or permanent visual loss. Our more limited experience with lidofilcon B lenses (Sauflon PW) (24 eyes) and the silicone lenses (Silsoft) (25 eyes) also showed beneficial results.