Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2026 Apr 8. doi: 10.1007/s44402-026-00076-6. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To refit contact lens (CL) dropouts who dropped out of CLs because of dryness or discomfort into lehfilcon A (TOTAL30®) monthly, spherical CLs to determine the frequency that they can be comfortably refitted into CLs.
METHODS: A 6-month, four-visit, multi-centre, open-label, single-arm, six-site study was conducted in the United States. Adults, 18- to 40-year-old, past CL wearers who dropped out of reusable CLs at least 3 months but not more than 2 years ago because of discomfort or dryness were enrolled. Participants were required to have no significant dry eye symptoms (SPEED scores ≤3). All participants were then fitted into lehfilcon A CLs. The participants were evaluated with the SPEED, a comfort visual analogue scale (VAS; 0-100 scale) and a Likert questionnaire.
RESULTS: This study enrolled 61 participants who had a median (interquartile) age of 28 (7) years (78.7% female). The participants had a right eye median (IQR) refractive error (sphere/cylinder power) of -1.50 D (2.50 D)/-0.50 D (0.50 D). This study had a CL retention rate of 98.4% at 1 month and 65.6% at 6 months. The VAS yielded a median comfort score of 81 (40) at 6 months. The Likert questionnaire found that 80.7% of participants would recommend the CLs to a friend at 6 months. SPEED scores increased statistically after resuming CL wear (p = 0.0001) at 1 month, yet this symptom change was unlikely to be clinically meaningful.
CONCLUSIONS: This study found that previous CL wearers who had dropped out of CLs could be comfortably refitted with lehfilcon A monthly replacement, silicone hydrogel CLs, with most of them continuing to wear the CLs after 6 months of daily wear. The results suggest that the monthly soft CLs with water gradient technology can be a viable option for many CL dropout sufferers.
PMID:41949795 | DOI:10.1007/s44402-026-00076-6
