Investigation of Delefilcon A Contact Lenses for Symptomatic Daily Disposable Contact Lens Wearers with Dry Eye Disease: A Prospective Comparative Study

Purpose: This prospective comparative study aimed to assess the effects on contact lens comfort, dryness, and wear time when symptomatic daily disposable (DD) contact lens (CL) wearers were refit with delefilcon A (DT1) lenses. Patients and Methods: Thirty five symptomatic DD CL wearers with dry eye disease as determined according to the TFOS DEWS 2 guidelines, were enrolled and completed the study. Participants wore their habitual DD CLs during an initial assessment and were subsequently refit with DT1 for 1 month. Participants were masked to the study lens type. Subjective ratings of end-of-day comfort and dryness, average wear time, and comfortable wear time were evaluated as primary endpoints. Results: Of the 35 participants, two participants were classified as aqueous deficient dry eye, while the remaining participants exhibited symptoms primarily due to evaporative causes. The median CLDEQ-8 score for dryness significantly improved from 17 (fair) with habitual lenses to 13 (good) with DT1 lenses (p < 0.01). Participants reported significantly better end-of-day comfort (p = 0.01) and less end-of-day dryness (p = 0.01) with DT1 compared to their habitual DD lenses. The comfortable wear time was significantly longer with DT1 (8.5 +/- 4.1 hours) compared to habitual DD lenses (6.7 +/- 3.2 hours) (p = 0.04). No significant differences were observed in vision ratings (p = 0.07). Conclusion: Refitting symptomatic DD CL wearers with DT1 resulted in improved end-of-day comfort, reduced end-of-day dryness, and extended comfortable wear time compared to their habitual lenses. These findings suggest that DT1 may offer benefits for symptomatic DD wearers with dry eye disease.