Clinical assessment of the piggyback bifocal contact lens system.

Purpose: We performed a qualitative and quantitative assessment of contact lens performance at 1 and 6 months among 24 patients enrolled in the Piggyback Bifocal Contact Lens Study.

Methods: We fit 24 presbyopic patients with the Piggyback Bifocal Contact Lens System (i.e., a plano soft lens with a 9.4 mm cutout portion on which a bifocal RGP lens rides or "piggybacks"). Patients were evaluated prior to inclusion in the study and then at one month and six months after obtaining their lenses. Evaluations included slit lamp examination, evaluation of visual acuity at near and distance, and subjective rating of the patients' comfort.

Results: At one month, 61% of patients had Snellen acuities of 20/30 or better, 79% had near acuities of J2 or better, and 60% rated their comfort as good or very good. At six months, 100% of patients had Snellen acuities of 20/30 or better, 90% had near acuities of J2 or better, and 86% of patients rated their comfort as good or better. Twelve patients did not complete the study due to their decision to drop the study.

Conclusions: The Piggyback Bifocal Contact Lens System is a well-tolerated, satisfactory means of optical correction for the motivated presbyope.