the prevalence and knowledge of contact lens wear among highschool girls in tehran

purpose: to evaluate the prevalence of contat lens wear among highschool girls and their general knowledge about contact lenses and also to evaluate the specific knowledge of contact lens wearers about the lens. methods: in a cross-sectional study, 1664 students of 22 randomly selected girl highschools were enrolled. a questionaire including questions about wearing contact lens, age of first use, cause of lens wear, type of lens, source of providing, way of wearing, and medical and hygienic care was filled out by the participants. contact lens wearers were classified in two groups according to the main cause of lens wear: cosmetic and therapeutic. results: the prevalence of contact lens wear was 16.5% including 81.8% for cosmetic purposes and 18.2% for therapeutic reasons. the age of starting lens wear was before 14 in 36%. about 50% of contact lens wearers had at least once worn the lens of another person. general knowledge was often weak or little and the knowledge about serious complications of contact lens wear was good only in 43% of the students. there was no significant differences between weares and nonwearers regarding these issues. the source of providing of lens among the therapeutic group was physicians in 90% and boutiques in 2% corresponding figures were 9.8% and 32% respectively in the cosmetic group. the most common type of lens was soft (98%) and colored (84.3%). lens handling was bad or inappropriate in 73.1%; however appropriate handling was greater in the therapeutic group (42%) than the cosmetic group (23.6%). medical care was appropriate in 30.9% (68% in the therapeutic group and 22.7% in the cosmetic group). hygienic care of lens was appropriate in 53.8% (62% in the therapeutic group and 52% in the cosmetic group). hygienic care of lens container was appropriate in 16.4% (24% in the therapeutic group vs 4.7% in the cosmetic group). specific knowledge of lens wearers was appropriate in 46.6% (58% in the therapeutic group vs 44% in the cosmetic group). conclusion: the prevalence of contact lens wear among highschool girls in tehran is considerable especially for cosmetic purposes. furthermore, general and specific knowledge about contact lens use was inadequate in the majority of lens wearers.