Ability of patients to recall habitual contact lens products and enhancement of recall using photographic aids

PURPOSE: To determine the proportion of soft contact lens (CL) wearers who are able to recall their habitual products (lenses and care system) correctly from memory, and to evaluate the value of using photographic aids (PAs) to improve recall. METHODS: 103 soft lens wearers attended 2 visits to investigate their habitual CL product use. At the first visit they were asked to recall which products they were using and then to identify their products from PAs. They returned for a second visit with their products for confirmation. RESULTS: 51% correctly reported their lens brands from memory alone, which improved to 87% with the use of the PAs (p<0.001). 41% correctly reported their habitual care system from memory alone, which improved to 80% with the use of PAs (p<0.001). Females were better at recalling care system brand names than males (49% versus 27% correct, p=0.040) and wearers with more than 1 year experience with their habitual CLs had better recall than those with up to 1 year experience (63% versus 27%, p=0.014). CONCLUSION: Less than 50% of contact lens wearers were able to recall the names of their habitual lens and lens care products correctly from memory. PAs improved this recall significantly for both contact lenses and contact lens care systems.