Extended-wear contact lenses, microbial keratitis, and public health

Abstract

Extended-wear soft contact lenses (lenses worn continuously for more than 24 h and in many cases for 1–4 weeks) are being relaunched in several countries. This move follows a decade of their restriction by licensing authorities and by contact-lens practitioners because the incidence of microbial keratitis is greater with extended-wear than with daily-wear, soft hydrogel lenses.1,2 Why are extended-wear lenses being revisited and what might be the implications for public health?