The Evaluation of the Effects of Differently-Designed Toric Soft Contact Lenses on Visual Quality

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of aspheric Balafilcon A and spherical Senofilcon A toric soft contact lenses, which have two different stabilization systems, on visual quality. Material and Method: Forty eyes of 20 patients who were followed up in our contact lens section were included in this study. Refractive errors of the patients were between -0.50 and -6.0 diopters of myopia and >0.75 diopter of astigmatism. The patients were randomly assigned to wear Balafilcon A (Purevision Toric, Baush&Lomb) with prism balast toric system or spherical designed Senofilcon A (Acuvue Oasys for astigmatism, Johnson&Johnson) with accelerated stabilization toric system. We recorded and compared the visual acuity with Snellen chart, contrast sensitivity with Bailey-Lovie chart in letters, mean root mean square (RMS) of corneal aberration with by Nidek Magellan Mapper for all eyes with and without glasses and while wearing Balafilcon A or Senofilcon A toric soft contact lenses. Results: We did not observe any difference in visual acuity between contact lenses. Contrast sensitivity was increased approximately 4.8-5.4 letters with contact lenses. Total higher order aberrations of mean RMS values were 0.42±0.14 µm without contact lens, 0.37±0.23 µm with Balafilcon A lens, 0.43±0.15 µm with Senofilcon A (p=0.507). Trefoil values were significantly higher with Senofilcon A lenses when compared to Balafilcon A lenses. There was no statistically significant difference for other measured higher order aberrations. Discussion: High and low contrast vision values were adequate in both contact lens groups. There was a non-significant decrease in total higher order aberration values with aspheric design contact lenses when compared to spherical designs. Although there were differences in aberrations related to lens designs, they did not have significant effect on visual quality. (Turk J Ophthalmol 2013; 43: 253-7)

Keywords

• Toric contact lens
• corneal aberrations
• visual quality
• contrast sensitivity