Quality of life in patients wearing scleral lenses

Objective. To evaluate the contribution of scleral lenses in terms of improving the quality of life in the treatment of astigmatism after penetrating keratoplasty or in keratoconus. Methods. We conducted an observational retrospective study, evaluating quality of life (QOL) of patients who failed to adapt to RPG lenses, fitted with SPOT (R) scleral lenses between October 2007 and March 2011 in the University Hospital of Besancon Department of Ophthalmology. QOL was assessed before and after scleral lense adaptation with the French version of the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire 25 (NEI-VFQ25). Results. We included 47 patients (83 eyes) fitted with scleral lenses on one or both eyes: 56 eyes with keratoconus and 27 post-keratoplasty eyes. The average duration of wearing sclerat lenses was 18 +/- 10 months and the average wearing time was 14 3 hours per day. The rate of participation in the survey was 86.5% (41 patients). Visual acuity in the better eye progressed from 0.68 +/- 0.46 to 0.15 +/- 0.17 logMAR at the 6th month after scleral lens adaptation (P < 0.0001). The average scores on the NEI-VFQ 25 questionnaire of patients fitted with scleral lenses for at least 6 months were significantly higher than those without sclerat lenses, with a global score of 80.2/100 with, versus 48.1/100 without, scleral lenses (P < 0.0001). The global score increased by an average of 32.1 +/- 4.6 points (-28, 82) (P < 0.0001). Statistical analysis found no significant difference in global score between patients in the keratoconus and keratoplasty groups (P > 0.05). Scleral lenses showed a significant improvement in quality of life for patients who had failed or are intolerant to conventional rigid gas permeable contact lenses. In our two main optical indications, keratoconus and keratoplasty, they represent an alternative or a step prior to surgery. (C) 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.