Purpose: To evaluate the impact of disposable soft contact lenses upon visual performance by comparing the optical aberrations of myopic eyes with and without the use of contact lenses.
Method: The optical aberrations of a set of 18 eyes were measured by a laser ray tracing system, an objective measurement method, enabling comparison of the findings of the naked eye, the eye plus a test lens, and the eye plus a disposable contact lens.
Results: There was a large variability among subjects, but the general tendency was that test lenses did not modify aberrations, whereas contact lenses tended to increase the ocular aberrations for large pupils by an average of 40%. There was a lower increase for smaller pupils.
Conclusion: This study predicts there will be no significant adverse effects on the quality of vision from the use of disposable contact lenses worn under daylight conditions, but a small decline in night vision.