Effect of internal lubricating agents of disposable soft contact lenses on higher-order aberrations after blinking.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether the polymer composition of disposable soft contact lenses affects sequential changes in higher-order aberrations (HOAs).


METHODS
Fifteen subjects who wore disposable soft contact lenses with dryness-related symptoms and 15 non-contact lens wearers were enrolled in this study. Ocular HOAs were measured for 60 seconds in each subject wearing a disposable etafilcon A lens (conventional lens) or a disposable etafilcon A lens with polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) (lens with PVP) after 1 hour of contact lens wear. During the measurement, subjects were forced to blink every 10 seconds. The aberration data were analyzed in the central 4-mm diameter up to the sixth-order Zernike polynomials. Total HOAs, the fluctuation index (FI), and the stability index (SI) of the total HOAs over time were compared between the two groups. The subjective ocular dryness also was scored.


RESULTS
In symptomatic wearers of disposable soft contact lenses, the total HOAs, the FI, and the SI with the lens with PVP were significantly (P=0.013, P=0.014, P=0.019, respectively) lower than with the conventional lens, whereas a significant (P=0.018) difference between the two lenses was observed only in the FI in non-contact lens wearers. Subjective ocular dryness with the lens with PVP significantly decreased compared with the conventional lens in both groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Sequential measurement of HOAs may be a useful objective method to evaluate the effect of internal lubricating agents of disposable soft contact lenses on optical quality.
Koh
Shizuka
S
Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka University Medical School, Suita, Japan.
Maeda
Naoyuki
N
Hamano
Takashi
T
Hirohara
Yoko
Y
Mihashi
Toshifumi
T
Hori
Yuichi
Y
Hosohata
Jun
J
Fujikado
Takashi
T
Tano
Yasuo
Y
D000328:Adult; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology*; D003263:Contact Lenses, Hydrophilic; D004209:Disposable Equipment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D054327:Lubricants; D008297:Male; D008689:Methacrylates; D011205:Povidone; D012029:Refraction, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000503:physiopathology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology
D054327:Lubricants; D008689:Methacrylates; C114176:etafilcon; D011205:Povidone