Contact lens practice and a very soft option

Many colleagues will have seen a recent advertisement in this journal featuring my prediction of the demise of rigid contact lenses by the year 2010. I am actually misquoted; I predict the virtual demise of rigid lenses by the year 2010. This distinction is subtle, but important, and I am pleased to have this opportunity to explain my thinking. Although some practitioners appear to be in denial at the demise of rigid lens fitting in recent years, the facts are clear. According to a survey conducted earlier this year by Morgan and Efron’ in the United Kingdom, rigid lenses constitute a meagre six per cent of all new fits. A concurrent study undertaken by Woods, Morgan and Efron2 has established this figure to be seven per cent in Australia. Some authorities prefer to cite combined data for new fits and refits, which indicate that rigid lenses are being worn by 17 per cent and 13 per cent of patients in the UK and Australia, respectively. However, it should be recognised that combined new !&/refit data essentially represents historical data. Many patients are being refitted with rigid lenses today based on considerations that were valid many years ago, and it is easy to just ‘keep on keeping on’, notwithstanding the fact that many of these patients are happy with their rigid lenses. New fit data relate more to future trends. Therefore, a more pertinent question to be asking is: ‘Should we be concerned about the demise of rigid lenses?’ I shall explore this question by proposing reasons for this demise and then testing the Nathan Efron BScOptom PhD DSc Professor of Clinical Optometry, Department of Optometry and Neuroscience, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, Manchester, United Kingdom