Neurolens and Contact Lens Discomfort

The objective of this study is to determine how neurolens® influences contact lens discomfort in uncomfortable myopic soft contact lenses wearers. It is hypothesized that uncomfortable soft contact lens wearers are experiencing some level of discomfort associated with increased vergence demand when looking at near targets and will experience discomfort relief when wearing neurolens® over their habitual soft contact lenses. Uncomfortable, myopic soft contact lens wearers will be recruited. Each participant will be masked and randomly assigned a placebo pair of spectacles or a neurolens® spectacle pair for approximately one month. A prospective, randomized clinical trial will be performed. Participants and investigators will be masked to the treatment.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Detailed Description

Discomfort is the primary reason for contact lens dissatisfaction and discontinuation. Symptoms of contact lens discomfort are often attributed to dryness; however, severity of dry eye and discomfort symptoms is not correlated with clinical dry eye severity. When clinical signs of contact lens discomfort and dryness misalign with symptom severity, the possibility of an under-recognized etiology must be considered.

Symptoms associated with contact lens discomfort are similar to symptoms reported with binocular vision disorders and accommodative and vergence strain. Eyestrain, fatigue, and increased/more frequent end-of-day symptoms are noted by patients in both groups of conditions. It has been reported that uncomfortable contact lens wearers have an unusually high prevalence of binocular vision disorders and clinical signs. Basic optical calculations show that myopes must converge and accommodate more when corrected with contact lenses versus spectacles, so it is reasonable to hypothesize that a myopic contact lens wearer may experience eyestrain and discomfort associated with vergence fatigue while wearing contact lenses, but not while wearing single vision spectacles.

neurolens® is a type of spectacle lens that uses contoured prism to alleviate vergence demands and fatigue at near and, therefore, encourages comfortable vision. This spectacle design uses the neurolens® Measurement Device (nMD) to measure eye alignment and determine the spectacle lenses that are uniquely designed for each wearer. Acknowledging that some amount of contact lens discomfort may be caused by vergence fatigue, it is possible that uncomfortable contact lens wearers who wear neurolens® over their contact lenses will achieve discomfort relief.

The objective of this study is to determine how neurolens® influences contact lens discomfort in uncomfortable myopic soft contact lenses wearers. Investigators hypothesize that uncomfortable soft contact lens wearers are experiencing some level of discomfort associated with increased vergence demand when looking at near targets and will experience discomfort relief when wearing neurolens® over their habitual soft contact lenses. Uncomfortable, myopic soft contact lens wearers will be recruited. Each participant will be masked and randomly assigned a placebo pair of spectacles or a neurolens® spectacle pair for approximately one month. A prospective, randomized clinical trial will be performed. Participants and investigators will be masked to the treatment.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

30

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • California
      • Fullerton, California, United States, 92831
        • The Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B. Ketchum University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Uncomfortable soft contact lens wearers (CLDEQ-8 ≥ 17 points)
  • Adult, pre-presbyopic age range (18 - 35 years)
  • Visual acuity of 20/25 or better in each eye with habitual contact lenses
  • Soft, spherical or low toric, single vision soft contact lens wearer:

    • Habitual contact lens sphere power -0.75 D or more myopic
    • Habitual contact lens are spherical design or have 1.75 D or less of cylinder correction
    • Habitual soft contact lenses are single vision design
    • Valid contact lens prescription at the date of the baseline
    • No significant subjective over-refraction in either eye with habitual soft contact lenses
  • No significant subjective over-refraction in either eye with habitual soft contact lenses

    • Sphere: ≤ 0.50 D myopia, ≤ 0.50 D hyperopia
    • Cylinder: ≤ 0.75 D
  • Valid measurement on the neurolens® Measurement Device (nMD2)

    • A numerical neurolens value
    • No low Measurement Quality Index (MQI) < 0.8 or convergence excess

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of ocular surgery
  • History of ocular disease, amblyopia, strabismus, or vision therapy
  • History of neurolens or prism spectacle correction
  • History of significant vertical phoria or vertical phoria correction
  • Current ocular medication use
  • Significant signs of dry eye:

    • > Grad 1 ocular surface staining
    • Schirmer scores < 7 mm
    • Tear break up time < 7 seconds
  • Signs of inappropriate fit or surface of soft contact lenses

    • Insufficient movement centration, and/or coverage
    • Significant lens deposits
    • Signs of corneal or conjunctival contact-lens related complications

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Neurolens Treatment
Participants will receive Neurolens lenses (measured with the Neurolens device while wearing their habitual contact lenses) in their study spectacles
neurolens® is a type of spectacle lens that uses contoured prism to alleviate vergence demands and fatigue at near and, therefore, encourages comfortable vision.8 This spectacle design uses the neurolens® Measurement Device (nMD) to measure eye alignment and determine the spectacle lenses that are uniquely designed for each wearer.
Placebo Comparator: Placebo Lens
Participants will receive plano (no power) lenses in their study spectacles
Plano (no power) spectacle lenses will be assigned to the placebo group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Contact Lens Discomfort
Time Frame: Baseline and 30-35 days
Change in contact lens discomfort measured by the Contact Lens Dry Eye Questionnaire-8 (CLDEQ-8), Score range: 0 - 37 points, Higher scores indicate worse symptoms
Baseline and 30-35 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Convergence Insufficiency Symptoms
Time Frame: Baseline and 30-35 days
Change in convergence insufficiency symptoms measured by the Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey (CISS), Score range 0 - 60 points, Higher scores indicate worse symptoms
Baseline and 30-35 days
Change in Headache Symptoms
Time Frame: Baseline and 30-35 days
Change in headache symptoms measured by the Headache Impact Test (HIT-6), Score range: 36 - 78 points, Higher scores indicate worse symptoms
Baseline and 30-35 days
Change in Dry Eye Symptoms
Time Frame: Baseline and 30-35 days
Change in dry eye symptoms measured by the Standard Patient Evaluation of Eye Dryness (SPEED) survey, Score range: 0 - 28 points, Higher scores indicated worse symptoms
Baseline and 30-35 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Collaborators

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Erin Rueff, OD, PhD, Marshall B. Ketchum University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 1, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 5, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

March 5, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 24, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 24, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

April 6, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 22, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 8, 2025

Last Verified

March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SCCOCLNeurolens

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

There is no plan to make IPD available to other researchers at this time.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

Yes

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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