Effect of hard contact lenses on corneal sensitivity and thickness.
Corneal sensitivity and central corneal thickness were measured on 11 subjects before and after 8 hours of hard contact lens wear. Both factors were monitored for 30 min after removal. It was found that hard contact lenses affect both corneal sensitivity and thickness, significantly. After 8 hours the reduction of sensitivity was found to be, on average, 94% in the centre and 116% in the periphery, and the average increase increase in thickness was 6.9%. Thirty minutes after removal corneal sensitivity had recovered 82% and 100% in the centre and periphery, respectively, and corneal thickness had decreased by 6.3%. A high correlation was found between central and peripheral corneal sensitivity. This investigation shows that corneal sensitivity measurements offer an alternative method of assessing corneal integrity which is simple and precise.
D000328:Adult; D003261:Contact Lenses; D003315:Cornea / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors