Treatment of recurrent corneal erosion by extended-wear bandage contact lens.

PURPOSE: To assess the efficacy of using a bandage contact lens (BCL) for 3 months for recurrent corneal erosions (RCE) to facilitate epithelial adhesion.

METHODS: Retrospective study of patients presented to the Casey Eye Institute (Portland, OR) with RCE after failing at least 6 weeks of medical lubrication therapy. Subjects were treated with an extended-wear BCL for 3 months and then followed for approximately 1 year. The main outcome measure was recurrence of RCE. Best-corrected visual acuity was measured before and after BCL therapy.

RESULTS: From the 12 patients studied, 9 (75%) had no recurrence of RCE after approximately 1 year of follow-up. Three subjects had subjective complaints of recurrent erosion during the follow-up period with 1 of these 3 subjects having objective findings of a recurrent erosion.

CONCLUSIONS: Three-month BCL treatment is a safe and effective medical therapy with a relatively low recurrence rate of RCE.