The durability of hydrogel extended-wear contact lenses worn for daily wear by USAF aircrew members.

Hydrogel extended-wear contact lenses, worn on a daily-wear regimen, were tested for 1 year by USAF aircrew members. A total of 62 eyes were fitted with Hydrocurve II (55% water content) spherical lenses, 29 with Hydrocurve II (55% water content) toric lenses, and 61 with CSI-T (38.5% water content) spherical lenses. The mean lens replacement rate for torn lenses per aircrew member was determined to be 1.45 lenses a year. The replacement rate of Hydrocurve II spherical lenses compared to CSI-T lenses was not statistically significant. However, the replacement rate for Hydrocurve II toric lenses was significantly lower than both Hydrocurve II spherical lenses and CSI-T lenses (p less than 0.01). The extended-wear lenses tested in this study appeared to be durable enough for the rigors of daily wear.