Optometry Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Optometry, including details on myopia, optometric practice, therapy.

Orthoptic indications for contact lens wear.

Evans BJ

Institute of Optometry, 56-62 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6DS, UK. bruce.evans@virgin.net <bruce.evans@virgin.net>

Orthoptic anomalies are prevalent: they are encountered in at least 5% of patients seen in a typical primary eyecare practice. Several cases are reviewed that highlight the role of contact lenses in treating orthoptic anomalies. In particular, contact lenses are the preferred optical approach to the correction of anisometropia, and it is often argued that anisometropia should be corrected as young as possible. However, fitting contact lenses to patients, particularly children, with anisometropic amblyopia has been problematic because there is no immediate binocular acuity improvement when the contact lenses are inserted which reduces patient motivation. Continuous wear with silicone hydrogels represents a breakthrough for these cases and some illustrative case studies are given. The visual deficit in amblyopia can be reduced in some cases solely by fitting contact lenses, without the need for occlusion therapy. Other orthoptic uses of contact lenses are reviewed including: correcting motor deviations, occlusion, and infantile onset nystagmus. It is concluded that there are orthoptic anomalies where contact lenses are the preferred mode of correction. It is in patients' best interest for practitioners to discuss contact lenses in these cases.

Published 11 September 2006 in Cont Lens Anterior Eye, 29(4): 175-81; quiz 211.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Optometry Research Today. All Rights Reserved.