Professional paper
The Level of Improvement of Visual Acuity in High Corneal Astigmatism with Rigid Gas Permeable Contact Lenses
Dalibor Opačić
; University of Zagreb, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Snježana Miljak
; University of Split, University Hospital Center Split, Department of Ophthalmology, Split, Croatia
Ksenija Ćuruvija-Opačić
; Polyclinic of Ophthalmology and Internal Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The aim of this study was to calculate the level of improvement of visual acuity comparing the best corrected visual
acuity (VA) achieved with spectacles with the best corrected VA achieved with rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses
in patients with high, simple or compound corneal astigmatism (myopic, hypermetropic and mixed). The investigation of
patients included auto-kerato-refractometry, manual keratometry, corneal topography and visual acuity with Snellen
chart. The best corrected VA obtained with spectacles was compared with the best corrected VA obtained with RGP contact
lenses in 72 patients (116 eyes). All patients showed a signifi cant improvement in visual acuity with RGP lenses from one
to seven lines compared to spectacles (p=0.0001). Level of improvement in VA represented as the number of lines obtained
was as follows: 74 percent of patients got two to four lines more in VA with RGP lenses compared to spectacles, and almost
10 percent of patients got fi ve to seven lines. RGP contact lenses provide a signifi cant improvement in VA compared to VA
reached with spectacles in patients with high corneal astigmatism. The benefi t in VA with RGP lenses is higher as the
astigmatism is higher.
Keywords
astigmatism; RGP contact lenses
Hrčak ID:
147814
URI
Publication date:
30.3.2015.
Visits: 1.182 *