Impact of soft and rigid gas-permeable contact lenses on visual performance in mesopic conditions.

CONTEXT: Evaluation of visual quality in soft and rigid gas-permeable contact lens wearers, with an emphasis on twilight vision.

PURPOSE: To assess the visual acuity and visual performance at dusk before and after soft and rigid gas-permeable contact lens (CL) correction in healthy subjects.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This prospective study was conducted in a tertiary eye-care center.

METHODS: Sixty eyes corrected with soft contact lenses (SCLs) and 30 eyes with rigid gas-permeable contact lenses (RGPCLs) were enrolled in this study. Patients underwent corrected distance visual acuity with spectacles (CDVAs), corrected distance visual acuity with contact lenses (CDVAcl), and twilight vision (TV) testing (Vista Vision Far-Pola, DMD MedTech charts). Parameters were evaluated before and after the CL fitting and repeated 3 months after the baseline visit.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: MedCalc for Windows, version 11.4 (MedCalc Software, Ostend, Belgium).

RESULTS: Rigid gas-permeable CL wear showed significant improvement in CDVAcl compared to wearing spectacles on both visits (P = 0.0039 and P = 0.0003, respectively). TV with CLs was significantly better in both groups compared to the TV with spectacles at the baseline visit (P = 0.0011 in SCL group; P = 0.0001 in RGPCL group), and at the follow-up visit, this significance was proven for the RGPCL group (P = 0.001). Also, spectacle TV showed a significant improvement on the follow-up visit (P = 0.0022 in SCL group; P = 0.0269 in RGPCL group).

CONCLUSION: Contact lens wear improves visual performance compared to spectacles. TV results showed superiority of CLs compared to the spectacles, without a statistical difference regarding the CL type.