The effects of short-term lens wear and eye rubbing on the corneal epithelium.
OBJECTIVE
To measure the effects of short-term high oxygen-transmissible (Dk) soft and rigid contact lens wear and eye rubbing on basal epithelial appearance and epithelial thickness.


METHODS
Ten subjects were enrolled in a randomized crossover study. The subjects' left eye was used as a control, and the right eye either wore a high Dk soft lens, high Dk parallel fitted rigid gas-permeable lens, or was rubbed on 3 separate days. Epithelial basal cell regularity and central and peripheral epithelial thickness were assessed before and after 6-hr soft or rigid lens wear or 10-min rubbing using in vivo confocal microscopy and modified optical pachometry.


RESULTS
Basal cell regularity was unaffected by short-term lens wear or eye rubbing (Friedman Test, P=0.11 and 0.37 in test and control eyes, respectively). The peripheral epithelium was thicker than the central epithelium (repeated-measures analysis of variance, P=0.03) but remained unaffected by short-term lens wear or eye rubbing (repeated-measures analysis of variance, P>0.05, power <0.08).


CONCLUSIONS
Corneal epithelial thickness and basal cell morphology were not affected by short-term lens wear or eye rubbing in this pilot study.
Kalogeropoulos
Gregory
G
School of Optometry and Vision Science, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Chang
Shaun
S
Bolton
Thomas
T
Jalbert
Isabelle
I
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003261:Contact Lenses; D003263:Contact Lenses, Hydrophilic; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D019573:Epithelium, Corneal / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000166:cytology; D005123:Eye; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008405:Massage; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult