Masking of astigmatism with selected spherical soft contact lenses.

This observational study investigated the ability of three current brands of spherical soft contact lenses to correct or "mask" low amounts of refractive astigmatism. The lens brands were worn by 16 subjects having at least 0.50 D, but not more than 1.00 D, of refractive astigmatism. Spherocylindrical refraction over the soft lenses was used to determine the amount of astigmatism that was masked by the lenses. Results showed that the wearing of spherical soft contact lenses, such as those used in this study, cannot be expected to predictably mask astigmatism.