EYECARE PROVIDERS are well aware of the vision and comfort challenges for astigmatic contact lens wearers, and may wonder whether toric daily disposable lenses are a beneficial boost to patients who have significant astigmatism.

Daily disposable lens wear has been associated with healthy lens wear (Woods et al, 2021). Over a six-year period, there were no contact lens-related serious adverse events for children ages 8 to 12 years old wearing daily disposable lenses on a full-time basis. Importantly, during this time, there were no cases of microbial keratitis (Woods et al, 2021). Furthermore, contact lens wearers with dry eye have shown significant symptom improvement in comfort and less dryness when refit into a daily disposable lens (Bishop et al, 2022).

What do we know about current findings with toric daily disposable lenses? Recently, wearers of toric daily disposable lenses reported high ratings for comfort and vision even with 16 hours of wear (Fogt and Patton, 2022). Furthermore, rapid lens settling time, excellent orientation, low rotation with blinking, and a 99% first lens fit success rate have been reported in the fitting of toric daily disposable lenses (Gustafson et al, 2022).

As eyecare providers, we can be aware of specific patient populations that may benefit especially from toric daily disposable lenses:

Part-Time Wearers Lenses are opened only when needed. This removes the unhealthy practice of storing reusable lenses in solution for days on end.

Frequent Travelers Carrying bottles of disinfection solution is no longer necessary. Additionally, numerous backup lenses are available in case of loss or damage (Figure 1).

Employed in Dusty Work Conditions Landscapers, agriculture workers, and construction workers wear new lenses each day. Fewer contaminants on lenses can mean better health, vision, and comfort for this population.

What about the availability of toric daily disposable lenses to meet a wide variety of patient needs? It is important to note that there are numerous different toric daily disposable lenses for providers to choose from (Contact Lens Spectrum, 2022). Toric daily disposable lenses are available in both silicone hydrogel and hydrogel materials and in a wide range of sphere and cylinder powers (Contact Lens Spectrum, 2022).

Patients who were previously unsuccessful toric lens wearers may transform to successful wearers with the advantages of daily disposable lenses. CLS

References

1. Woods J, Jones D, Jones L et al. Ocular health of children wearing daily disposable contact lenses over a 6-year period. Cont Lens Anterior Eye. 2021 Aug;44:1-8.
2. Bishop MJ, Sun C-K, Coles-Brennan C, Gallois-Bernos A. Evaluation of daily disposable senofilcon A contact lenses in a symptomatic population. Cont Lens Anterior Eye. 2022 Oct;45:1-6.
3. Fogt JS, Patton K. Evaluation of Wear Experience with Soft Daily Disposable Lenses for Astigmatism over 16 Hours of Wear. Clin Optom (Auckl). 2022 Oct 28;14:207-214.
4. Gustafson B, Whaley S, Giedd B, Montaquila S, Edwards B, Subbaraman LN. Short-Term Fit Assessment of a Novel Daily Disposable, Toric, Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lens. Clin Ophthalmol. 2022 Nov 14;16:3721-3730.
5. 2022 Contact Lenses & Solutions Summary. Contact Lens Spectrum. 2022 Sep. Available at clspectrum.com/resources/class-pdfs/0922-class_final_hyperlinks . Accessed May 15, 2023.