Abstract
Objective: to assess how much female students at King Khalid University (KKU) use contact lens and to assess their practices and care of contact lenses.
Methods: A cross-sectional study included 751 female students at Health Colleges of KKU. A self-administrated questionnaire was designed.
Results: Two-thirds (66.2%) used contact lenses, mainly soft lenses (82.7%) and for cosmetic reasons (23.3%) and to correct errors of refraction (29.4%). (56.5%) of participants used contact lenses for 47 hours daily. (55.7%) of participants obtained their contact lenses from an optician. More than one third of participants disagree or strongly disagree regarding the importance to consult an ophthalmologist when choosing contact lenses, while 64.2% recommend others to use contact lenses. Most participants (95.8%) clean their contact lenses with a solution. Most participants always remove contact lenses before sleep (89.3%) or swimming (82.3%). (55.9%) do not visit an ophthalmologist for follow up care of their contact lenses.
Conclusions: Most students used them for cosmetic purposes. They mostly obtain them from opticians. Their awareness is suboptimal and lacks proper practice. Their awareness and practice should be increased.