Improving contact lens compliance by explaining the benefits of compliant procedures

Aim: To increase compliance with instructions for safe and successful contact lens wear by helping patients understand the advantages and consequences of compliant and non-compliant behavior respectively. Methods: A series of explanations which elucidate the practical and scientific basis for many of the instructions given at lens delivery and aftercare have been prepared as a means of extending patient education beyond simply being instructed on what to do. Discussion: The summary versions of these explanations have been prepared at an easier level of readability (age 10-12 years) to assist young patients and adults with reading disabilities, including those for whom English is their second language. Conclusions: Patients may be non-compliant because they do not understand the practical and/or scientific basis for procedures and the potential consequences of aberrant behavior. Delay in the onset of symptoms associated with non-compliance may allow them to assume that compliance is not important. Explanations which describe why instructions given for lens use are consistent with sustained comfortable and safe lens wear, appear to have the potential to strengthen or change patient attitudes toward being compliant. Behavior modification which reduces the prevalence of non-compliance appears likely to also help sustain better contact lens performance and reduce the prevalence of contact lens failure. These explanations could be modified for use in different practices according to the preferences of individual practitioners and to include new research findings as they become available. (C) 2011 British Contact Lens Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.