Purpose: To assess the relationship between age and the incidence and severity (determined by a grading system) of pinguecula in contact lens (CL) wearers, and to compare the grade of pinguecula between CL wearers and non-wearers.
Methods: A total of 600 CL wearers (94 wore hard CLs (HCLs) and 506 wore soft CLs (SCLs)) aged 11-60 years and 579 non-wearers aged 10-60 years were enrolled. The age, gender, medical history, ocular history, and grade of pinguecula at two locations (nasal and temporal) were determined in all subjects.
Results: There was an age-related increase in the grade of pinguecula among both CL wearers and non-wearers. The grade of pinguecula at the temporal conjunctiva was higher in CL wearers than in non-wearers (P=0.01907), whereas it was higher in HCL wearers than SCL wearers at both the nasal and temporal conjunctiva (P<0.00001 and P<0.00001).
Conclusions: This was the first assessment of the severity of pinguecula in a large consecutive series of CL wearers. Our results suggest that the use of CLs is an important risk factor for pinguecula.