COMPLIANCE - A COMPARISON OF 3 LENS CARE SYSTEMS

Noncompliance is an important health care issue. This report presents results of assessments of three different lens care systems and direct ly compares compliance with each and the potential impact on patients' safety and comfort. Methods involved trained interviewers, patient de monstrations, a panel of experts, statistical analyses, and an assessm ent of the clinical significance of patients' noncompliant behaviors. These methods were able to discriminate among the levels of compliance with the lens care systems assessed. The three regimens were comparab le regarding steps significant to lens wearing comfort with approximat ely one-third of all patients noncompliant with at least one of these steps. The same cannot be said regarding safety, however, with the inc idence of noncompliance at 55, 84, and 91% for the three regimens. The se findings indicate that simplicity alone cannot overcome noncomplian ce and the design of the system is an important consideration when mak ing recommendations regarding lens care.