Statistical Study on the Use of Contact Lenses in Greece

Purpose: This study was conducted in order to examine the behavior of contact lenses users, the type of contact lenses they use, their satisfaction with their contact lenses after evaluation by the users themselves, both in the quality of vision and in the comfort they offer.

Material and Methods: A questionnaire in printed form was used to conduct the research, which was distributed to optical stores in Glyfada, Maroussi (suburbs of Athens) and the city of Kalamata province in Peloponnese. An online questionnaire was created for the e-shops of the collaborating optical stores, which was completed by internet users. The sample was 380 people, users of contact lenses, and their age ranged from 18 to 55 years old. The study was contacted in six months from January 2019 to June 2019

Results: The material of the contact lenses preferred by the users are the silicone-hydrogel lenses (71.05%), the monthly use is prevalence (74.74%) the days of use are 7 days per week (59.74%) while the hours of use that appear more frequently are 8 to 12 hours per day (42.11%). The main reason for the use of contact lenses is the external appearance (48.16%). 88.4% of the population considers the insertion and removal of lenses an easy process as well as the comfort offered by the lenses during application was evaluated positively in the largest sample (42.37%). The signs that seem to encourage users to replace their lenses is not the time of use but mainly sensation of dry eyes (29.21%), intolerance (22.11%) and blurred vision (20.26%). The quality of vision with CLs is Very good to Good at a percentage of 94.74%, while only 12,89% sleep with their lenses.

Conclusions: There is a need to further investigate the performance of contact lenses, from the side of wearers, both in the global scientific community and in Greece, as the scientific literature on this issue needs continuous updating. The majority prefers and wears soft CLs, silicone-hydrogel especially, and the satisfaction percentage is high. The usage of CLs during sleep is a big concern for the professional CL fitters as 1 of 10 users use them.