A study of contact lens failures.

One hundred ninety-nine self-identified failed contact lens wearers were surveyed to determine the primary cause of their failure. Of these, 143 (72 percent) stated that comfort was the reason they had given up contact lens wear, another 39 (20 percent) failed due to inadequate visual acuity, with the remaining 17 (8 percent) failing due to convenience or economic reasons. It was determined that all were good candidates for contact lens wear; new lenses were fitted based on standard clinical findings and the patients allowed to wear the lenses for a trial period. At the end of the study period 82 percent of returning patients were successful. The author speculates that with greater care during the fitting process and a wider range of diagnostic lenses, practitioners may return the majority of contact lens dropouts to the active patient pool.