Introduction: Therapeutic contact lenses (TCLs) are important tools for the treatment of ocular surface diseases and other corneal conditions. The main difference between a normal contact lens and a TCL is that the latter is not controlled by the patient.
Aim: The aim of this article is to evaluate the effect of TCLs on amniotic membrane (AM) transplantation and outline the benefits.
Materials and Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 30 clinical cases of recurrent erosion syndrome (RES) or superficial corneal trauma collected over one year treated with AM. The study was randomized and 15 of the patients were treated with AM and TCL and 15 with AM alone.
Results: Patients treated with AM/TCL rated postoperative comfort with an av. 5.5 (from a scale of 2–6). In comparison, AM patients without TCL rated it 3.5. Twelve of the TCL cases had complete or better epithelialization from day 1, while 5 non-TCL patients had worse results. The study showed AM survived for about 1 week when TCL was included. In the absence of TCL, the membrane lasted less than 48 hours. The most common complications in a period of 7 days were suture rupture (AM&TCL: 1/AM: 8), ruptured membrane (AM&TCL: 2/AM: 12), hemorrhage (AM&TCL: 1/AM: 5), inflammation (AM&TCL: 0/AM: 2), infection (AM&TCL: 0/AM: 1).
Conclusion: Therapeutic contact lens placement is a promising method for improving ocular surface health recovery, increases comfort, protects AM, and has long-term outcomes.
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