To investigate the effect of rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses in patients with corneal scar and opacity following repair of corneal perforations.

A total of 10 eyes from 10 patients undergoing repair of corneal perforating injuries and fitted with RGP contact lenses were examined in the present study. The mean postoperative 3-month visual acuities, refraction, corneal topography, keratometry, best corrected visual acuities with spectacles and RGP lenses at an average of postoperative 3 months were evaluated.

Eight eyes had corneal opacities at the central and 2 eyes at the peripheral portion. Four patients had previous cataract surgery or cataract surgery with intraocular lens insertion due to traumatic cataract. The mean postoperative 3-month LogMAR visual acuity was 1.14 ± 0.53. Corneal topography showed irregular astigmatism in all patients and the mean keratometric astigmatism was 4.03 ± 4.06 diopters. The mean best corrected LogMAR visual acuities with spectacles was 0.91 ± 0.64 and with the RGP contact lens was 0.25 ± 0.35. A comparative analysis of improvement in visual acuity with the RGP contact lens over spectacle correction was found to be statistically significant ( p = 0.005). Patients wore the lenses for more than 6 hours daily for the mean follow-up period (12.10 ± 7.80 months).

In patients with corneal scar and opacity following repair of corneal perforations, RGP contact lens fitting should be considered first before surgical corrections such as keratoplasty.