Non-compliance in contact lens care and maintenance

Purpose. Non-compliance is a critical issue in the contact lens field. More than one third of contact lens patients have been reported as non-compliant in their use of recommended care and maintenance regimens and many of these are confused or ignorant about their non-compliant behaviour. Non-compliance with contact lens care and maintenance recommendations can lead to dissatisfaction and confusion among patients and practitioners. Many factors have been suggested as influencing non-compliance. Method. It was proposed that if patients were educated to a greater level in the care and maintenance of lenses, they would be more compliant and their contact lens wear would be more clinically successful. A prospective, randomised, controlled and masked clinical trial was conducted on seventy five patients using daily wear, frequent replacement contact lenses and a multipurpose solution regimen. The patients were divided into groups I and II randomly. Group I was given standard clinical advice at the time of dispensing, and group II was given extra instruction as well as the standard clinical advice. The level of compliance was assessed at 12 months, using questionnaire and demonstration techniques The personality of each patient was also assessed using the sixteen personality factor questionnaire Results. The extra instruction was found to make no significant difference to assessed compliance levels. There were no significant correlations between compliance scores and the personality factors assessed. The results are compared to those of previous studies and show many similarities. Conclusion. There are many strategies, such as repetitive education and continuous assessment which can be applied to enhance compliance levels among contact lens wearers.