by Joel Harrison
25. October 2010 10:10

In response to an article written by Professor Nathan Efron, announcing the death of rigid gas permeable contact lenses, a contact lenses specialist Loretta B. Szczotka-Flynn, OD, PhD, MS, FAAO, stated that such claims are premature. In her article published in Contact Lenses Today, she provided several arguments for the continuing popularity of GP lenses.
First of all, GP lenses are still the safest way of vision correction with the use of contact lenses. A study conducted in 2008 supports this argument, showing that fitting patients with GP contact lenses reduces the risk of microbial keratitis by 84% in comparison with programmed replacement soft lenses. What is more, another large-scale study demonstrated that GP lenses are the safest with respect to the risk of microbial keratitis. Furthermore, GP lenses offer great presbyopic lens options and superior optics for patients with high corneal astigmatism.
According to Szczotka-Flynn, it is therefore worth overcoming the initial discomfort that some new contact lens users feel in order to enjoy the health benefits GP lenses offer.