Although hybrid and mini-scleral lenses may not be the first lens options clinicians think about for their keratoconus patients, they should be on the list, particular for patients experiencing higher-order aberrations (HOAs) in other lens designs, according to new research. A team of researchers from Iran suggest these lenses could benefit keratoconus patients by decreasing HOAs and increasing their vision quality.

The investigators enrolled 37 patients between the ages of 20 and 35 with bilateral keratoconus who were referred to a specialty contact lens clinic by a corneal specialist. Pre-fitting exams included objective and subjective refraction, measurement of uncorrected and best spectacle-corrected visual acuity and measurement of corneal HOAs.

After the lens fitting, the researchers found HOAs significantly decreased in both the mini-scleral and hybrid lens designs. The study also noted a significant change in the third-order vertical coma and spherical aberration after fitting the mini-scleral lens.

 In the hybrid lens group, a significant change was found only in the vertical coma after fitting. The investigators reported no significant difference in the post-fitting HOA change between the two groups.

“The results of this study showed the effectiveness of both mini-scleral and hybrid lenses in decreasing HOAs in keratoconus patients,” the researchers wrote in their paper.