Effects of Custom-Designed Soft Contact Lenses on Irregular Astigmatism Correction in Patients with Keratoconus

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of YOUSOFT soft contact lenses in correcting irregular astigmatism and prescription results of patients with keratoconus. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The retrospective observational study included 55 eyes (mean age, 32.2 ± 10.6 years; 36 men and 6 women) of 42 patients with keratoconus who tried YOUSOFT for rigid gas permeable (RGP) lens intolerance. Average keratometry, corneal astigmatism, and maximum keratometry were 49.4 ± 5.2 diopters (D), 3.7 ± 2.1 D, and 57.3 ± 8.2 D, respectively. Patients were divided into YOUSOFT prescription and non-prescription cases, wherein the prescription rates were calculated. YOUSOFT visual acuity was compared with spectacle-corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) and RGP lens-CDVA. RESULTS: YOUSOFT was prescribed to 28 out of 42 patients (prescription rate 67%). In the YOUSOFT prescription cases, YOUSOFT-CDVA (logMAR −0.04; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.08 to 0.00) was significantly better than spectacle-CDVA (logMAR 0.23; 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.38; P < 0.0001), whereas YOUSOFT-CDVA (logMAR −0.03; 95% CI: −0.08 to 0.03) did not significantly differ from the RGP lens-CDVA (logMAR −0.02; 95% CI: −0.08 to 0.04; P = 0.856). CONCLUSION: YOUSOFT was effective in correcting irregular corneal astigmatism, suggesting that it is highly effective in patients with RGP lens intolerance.