Influence of Cosmetic Color Tinted Contact Lenses on the Ocular Surface

More than 1 million people worldwide wear soft contact lenses for refractive error correction. However, severe sight threatening complications due to contact lens wear such as contact lens-related microbial keratitis (CLMK) are about 1 per 2500 persons per year. The rate of infection increases drastically to 1 per 500 person per year if lenses were worn overnight. Recently, color tinted cosmetic soft contact lenses, which are essentially soft contact lenses with a color tinted annular ring, are gaining increasing popularity especially among the younger and Asian population desiring a change in iris color or the doll-eyed look. However, studies on the effect of these lenses on the ocular surface have been scarce. Recently, a report of 12 cases of lens-related microbial keratitis due to wear of the color tinted lenses have been reported. Others reported of decreased contrast sensitivity, increased higher order aberrations, and temporary changes in corneal topography due to color tinted lens wear. Nevertheless, comprehensive and prospective study has not yet been done. Thus, the purpose of this study is to conduct a prospective observational study to determine the influence of color tinted cosmetic contact lens wear both on visual performance and ocular surface alterations.