More BrandsOne of the greatest advancements in the contact lens field was the arrival of silicone hydrogel lenses. They made it possible to significantly improve oxygen supply to the cornea, thus addressing a number of problems associated with hypoxia (low oxygen supply). While the perfect contact lens does not yet exist, experts generally agree that daily silicone hydrogel lenses come closest to that vision. This belief has been given further weight by a US study looking at the risk and likelihood of corneal inflammation in people wearing daily silicone hydrogel lenses.
Led by Dr Loretta Szczotka-Flynn of Cleveland-based University Hospitals Eye Institute, the research team selected 218 study participants and followed them for a year. Through a random selection, some subjects were assigned a polyhexamethylene biguanide-preserved multipurpose solution and the others were instructed to use a one-step peroxide disinfection system. The research focused primarily on the incidence of bacterial contamination affecting contact lenses, storage cases, lid margins and the ocular surface.
According to the research report, which has been published in the Optometry & Vision Science journal, the probability of avoiding a corneal inflammatory event (CIE) was a combined 92.3% for both groups of participants. The study recorded one case of microbial keratitis, five of asymptomatic infiltrates and seven of contact lens peripheral ulcers.
The study concluded that daily silicone hydrogel lenses are associated with a low probability of corneal inflammation, and symptomatic CIEs are a rare occurrence. When people wearing such lenses do experience a non-infectious CIE, the study found a major contributing factor is a high level of bacterial bioburden on lid margins.
