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. 2020 Jun 25:12:75-84.
doi: 10.2147/OPTO.S249078. eCollection 2020.

Effects of Aqueous-Supplementing Artificial Tears in Wearers of Biweekly Replacement Contact Lenses vs Wearers of Daily Disposable Contact Lenses

Silvia Tavazzi  1   2 , Riccardo Origgi  1 , Martina Anselmi  1 , Andrea Corvino  1 , Sara Colciago  1 , Matteo Fagnola  2 , Silvia Bracco  1 , Fabrizio Zeri  1   2   3
Affiliations

Effects of Aqueous-Supplementing Artificial Tears in Wearers of Biweekly Replacement Contact Lenses vs Wearers of Daily Disposable Contact Lenses

Silvia Tavazzi et al. Clin Optom (Auckl). .

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the effects of artificial tears (ATs) in wearers of biweekly replacement silicone hydrogel contact lenses (BW-Ws) and wearers of daily disposable contact lenses (DD-Ws) of the same material.

Materials and methods: The aqueous-supplementing ATs, OPTOyalA and OPTOidro, were assigned to be used for 2 weeks to healthy and young subjects: 1) 20 (8 and 12, respectively) BW-Ws wearing silicone hydrogel somofilcon A CLs (Clariti Elite), 2) 18 (9 and 9, respectively) DD-Ws wearing silicone hydrogel somofilcon A CLs (Clarity 1 Day), and 3) a control group of 33 (16 and 17, respectively) N-Ws. Ocular symptoms and comfort, tear volume and stability, and ocular surface condition were assessed by Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), 5-Item Dry Eye Questionnaire (DEQ5), tear meniscus height (TMH), non-invasive tear break-up time (NIBUT), and evaluation of ocular redness (OR). The assessment was performed before and after 15 days of use of the ATs in the 3 groups (BW-Ws, DD-Ws, and N-Ws).

Results: No clear significant difference was noted in symptoms and signs between OPTOyalA and OPTOidro irrespectively of the group of people studied. ATs use for 15 days produced a significant improvement in DEQ5 and OR in DD-Ws (Δ=-34%, p=0.006; Δ=-23%, p<0.001) and in N-Ws (Δ=-21%, p=0.001; Δ=-10%, p=0.006) but not in BW-Ws (Δ=-5%, p=0.072; Δ=-2%, p=0.257). No significant change was noted for TMH.

Conclusion: In young and healthy subjects, the aqueous-supplementing effect of the ATs under consideration is more a rinsing and tear replacem ent effect than an increase in tear volume, and it produces an improvement of the eye redness and ocular symptoms. Contact lens wear influenced the effectiveness of ATs in a way which is correlated with the CL replacement schedule.

Keywords: artificial tears; contact lenses; somofilcon A.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scheme of the study design showing the recruitment of non-wearers (N-Ws) and wearers of contact lenses (CLs), either daily disposable contact lenses (DD-Ws) or biweekly replacement contact lenses (BW-Ws), and the 15-day experimental phase in which artificial tears (ATs) were used.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean data measured on the 1st and 15th days for the two ATs separately. Abbreviations: N-Ws, non-wearers; DD-Ws, wearers of daily disposable contact lenses; BW-Ws, wearers of biweekly replacement contact lenses; OSDI, Ocular Surface Disease Index; DEQ5, 5-Item Dry Eye Questionnaire; TMH, tear meniscus height; NIBUT, non-invasive tear break-up time; OR, ocular redness.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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