Vision-Related Quality of Life in Moderate-to-High Myopia Corrected with Rigid Gas Permeable Contact Lenses: A West Sumatran Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses correct highly ametropic eyes better than spectacles can, but whether that optical advantage reaches the patient, and what predicts it, is unstudied in Indonesia.

Objective: To characterize vision-related quality of life, and to test whether clinical variables predict it, in adults with moderate-to-high myopia corrected with rigid gas permeable contact lenses in West Sumatra, Indonesia.

Methods: In an analytical cross-sectional study, 26 adults with a spherical equivalent of at least −3.00 dioptres who had worn RGP lenses for at least one month were recruited at the Refraction, Contact Lens and Low Vision Subdivision of Dr. M. Djamil Central General Hospital, Padang, West Sumatra, between July and August 2025. Acuity was recorded in logMAR before fitting and with the lens, and quality of life with the Indonesian National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25; predictors were related to the composite and 12 subscales by Spearman and Mann–Whitney tests, with Benjamini–Hochberg control across all 104 tests.

Results: The median composite score was 93.21 (62.95–97.16) and 20 of 26 (76.9%, 95% CI 56.4–91.0) scored at or above the visually-normal normative mean of 85.48. Every participant gained at least 0.304 logMAR, 3.0 times the 0.10 logMAR minimum clinically important difference, the median gain being identified to 1.374–1.470 logMAR. Three tests reached p < 0.05 against 4.9 expected under the global null and none survived correction (smallest q = 0.989); with a minimum detectable |ρ| of 0.557, six subscales at their ceiling and a corrected-acuity range below one such difference, the predictor analysis is uninformative rather than negative.

Conclusion: RGP correction restored near-normal function and patient-reported vision; a future Indonesian study needs about 89 participants.