Comparison of Knowledge, Attitude & Practice Regarding Contact Lens usage in Students.

Objective: This study aims to compare knowledge, attitude and regarding contact lens use between medical and non-medical students of Superior University, Lahore. Methodology: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted. The study included 127 medical students (M) and 127 nonmedical students who were contact lens users. A peer-reviewed questionnaire was used to determine their knowledge, attitude and practice regarding contact lens use. Results: The participants were all between the ages of 18 and 28 (both medical and non-medical). There were 50% medical students and 50% non-medical students among the 254 students. They used lenses for a variety of reasons, including cosmetic reasons (40.9%), refractive error correction (30.7%), and both (28.3%). The medical students had a high level of knowledge about contact lens use specially the duration of wearing contact lenses per day. The hygienic practices that participants in both groups had differed significantly according to instructions (Medical: 81.1 %, Non-medical: 68.5 %), removing lenses before swimming (Medical: 86.6 %, Non-medical: 74.8 %), removing lenses before sleeping (Medical: 90.6 %, Non-medical: 81.9 %), and cleaning contact lens case with toothbrush (Medical: 20.5 %, Non-medical: 29.9 %). In both groups, was the prevalent was the improper lens hygiene practices like changing lens storage solution daily, using tap water for cleaning lenses, not washing hands before handling lenses, and not storing contact lenses in fresh solution every night. Conclusion: Although medical students had better knowledge regarding contact lens usage than non-medical students. Whereas, non-medical students had a poor knowledge of the risks and consequences of wearing contact lenses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]