Disability glare and hydrogel lens wear--revisited.

Decreased tolerance to glare is a common complaint among hydrogel contact lens wearers. Recently this subjective complaint was measured and quantified in our laboratory in five subjects by determining increment thresholds as a function of background luminance and glare source location for both spectacles and hydrogel lens refractive corrections. Additional testing, using the same apparatus and similar protocols, has not entirely supported the original result. After testing a total of 15 subjects, data averaged across all subjects revealed no significant hydrogel contact lens-induced increases in disability glare; however, analysis of individual data revealed three classes of effects within the population tested. Subjects either demonstrated a significant glare effect induced by contact lens wear (6 of 15), no increase in disability glare (7 of 15), or a significant decrease in disability glare (2 of 15).