Contact lens & anterior eye : the journal of the British Contact Lens Association
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First to audit local adherence to a protocol of use of an alcohol wipe for each tonometry, and secondly to assess current practice nationally in the UK. ⋯ This study highlights that sterilisation of tonometer prisms was inconsistent in a local audit. Nationally, practices were varied. The majority of ophthalmology departments continued to use non-disposable tonometer prisms, but few seemed aware of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists' recommendation that disposable prisms are used in patients at risk of prion disease, and few track tonometer heads or replace them according to manufacturers guidelines. Use of disposable tonometer prisms would seem to reduce concerns about sterilisation, as well as prevent spread of common pathogens.