Extended-Wear Soft and Rigid Contact Lenses: Operational Evaluation among Army Aviators.

摘要

With increasing technological complexity in Army aviation, the role of vision becomes more important. Aviation systems incorporating sophisticated electro-optical displays frequently are designed without provision for use by spectacle wearing pilots. Contact lenses offer a solution to the compatibility problems experienced by Army aviators, approximately 18% of whom wear corrective lenses. Under a waiver from The Surgeon General, 44 helicopter pilots performed flying duties while wearing extended wear soft and rigid lensed. Six experienced temporary discontinuance of wear (4-19 days); six withdrew from the study. No pilot was grounded due to contact lens related problems. Subjectively, extended wear contact lenses favorably affected job performance. This was the first major field evaluation of contact lenses in U.S. Army aviation, and will eventually represent part of a larger database in this unique environment. Keywords: Contact lens; Helicopter pilots; Vision correction; Refractive error; Ocular physiology; Performance impact; Vision. (SDW)