Disposable soft contact lenses.

Disposable soft lenses are now available for extended wear. These lenses were designed to provide a more acceptable margin of safety than conventional extended wear soft lenses. Disposable lenses, which are intended to be discarded after 1-2 weeks of continuous wearing time, do offer a number of theoretical advantages. The short wearing schedule minimizes deposit formation which has been implicated in the development of giant papillary conjunctivitis and infectious keratitis. Lens disinfection systems, which are expensive and time consuming, and may become contaminated, are rarely needed if the manufacturer's guidelines are followed. Careful longterm follow-up of disposable soft lens patients will be needed to establish actual patient compliance and the safety of these lenses.