Ptosis associated with PMMA/rigid gas permeable contact lens wear.

Purpose: Contact lens wear has the potential to cause an acquired non-senile blepharoptosis. Ptosis can result from rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lens wear due to contact lens migration, inflammation, and undetermined causes. The purpose of this article was to investigate the occurrence of ptosis without obvious cause in a young and middle aged RGP contact lens wearing population.

Methods: We fit sixty-four patients (128 eyes) with RGP contact lenses over a fifteen month period (7/1/96 to 9/10/97) and present a series of case reports of five young and middle aged RGP contact lens wearers who developed ptosis without obvious cause during the study period.

Results: Five patients (6 eyes [4.7%]) in our study developed non-senile acquired ptosis. Four patients had a unilateral ptosis, and one patient had a bilateral ptosis.

Conclusions: As in other other studies, we found that a significant percentage of RGP contact lens wearers developed ptosis, which is suspected to be related to RGP contact lens wear. One possible explanation is the lens removal procedure of pulling laterally on the eyelids followed by a harsh blink. However, other causes may exist such as the constant rubbing of the lens edge against the palpebral conjunctiva.