Comparison of Lotrafilcon B and Balafilcon A silicone hydrogel bandage contact lenses in reducing pain and discomfort after photorefractive keratectomy: A contralateral eye study

Purpose: To assess the effect of two silicone hydrogel contact lenses with high oxygen permeability in patients having photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). Setting: Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Methods: Sixty patients (120 eyes) who had bilateral PRK were enrolled in this double blind clinical trial. Each patient was fitted with a Lotrafilcon B (Air Optix (R) AQUA, Ciba Vision, Duluth, GA, USA) lens in one eye and a Balafilcon A (PureVision (TM) Bausch & Lomb, Rochester, NY, USA) lens in the fellow eye. Patients' responses to a subjective questionnaire in terms of pain, foreign body sensation, photophobia, blurred vision and epiphora were evaluated on the first and third postoperative days. Results: Mean pain score for Lotrafilcon B and Balafilcon A contact lenses was 4.43 +/- 3.18 vs. 5.45 +/- 3.37 on the first postoperative day and 3.43 +/- 3.23 vs. 3.88 +/- 3.01 on the third postoperative day. However, the difference was only significant in the first 24 h after surgery (P = 0.032). Foreign body sensation was clinically higher with Balafilcon A contact lens (5.0 +/- 3.47 vs. 4.08 +/- 3.34 on day 1 and 4.98 +/- 3.52 vs. 3.55 +/- 3.20 on day 3) and the difference was statistically significant on the first and the third postoperative days (P=0.042 and 0.002, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference between two contact lenses in terms of photophobia, epiphora and blurred vision (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The Lotrafilcon B lens resulted in significantly less postoperative pain and discomfort after PRK, especially in the first 24 h after PRK. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of British Contact Lens Association.