Purpose: To determine the influence of preoperative contact lens (CL) wearing history on early postoperative corneal endothelial cell density (CD) and endothelial morphology following implantable Collamer lens (ICL) implantation. Patients and Methods: In this retrospective study, 230 eyes that underwent ICL implantation at Chukyo Eye Clinic (mean age 34.4 ± 8.24 years) were analyzed. Based on preoperative interviews, eyes were categorized into four groups: no CL wear (78 eyes), hard CL wear (HCL; 29 eyes), non-daily soft CL wear ≤ 10 h/day (NSCL; 48 eyes), and daily soft CL wear ≥ 10 h/day (OSCL; 75 eyes). CD, coefficient of variation (CV), and percentage of hexagonal cells (6A) were assessed preoperatively and at 1 and 3 months postoperatively. The primary outcome was the between-group comparison of CD change from baseline to 1 month. Results: No significant between-group differences were observed in CD changes at 1 month (p = 0.458) or 3 months (p = 0.149). Within-group analyses demonstrated significant CD reduction at 1 month in the NSCL and OSCL groups (both p = 0.04); this reduction persisted at 3 months only in the OSCL group (p = 0.04). No significant CD changes were observed in the no CL or HCL groups. No significant between- or within-group differences were found in CV or 6A at any time point. Conclusion: Preoperative soft CL wear, particularly long-duration daily wear, may be associated with a tendency toward early postoperative endothelial cell density reduction after ICL implantation. Endothelial morphology remained stable, suggesting no evidence of irreversible structural compromise. Careful assessment of preoperative CL wear patterns may help optimize perioperative endothelial monitoring. Keywords: implantable collamer lens, corneal endothelial cell density, contact lens wear, endothelial cell morphology, early postoperative changes
Gotoda et al. (2026) studied this question.