Protein accumulation on disposable extended wear lenses

We investigated protein accumulation on disposable extended wear contact lenses. Fifteen volunteers were fit with one low water content, non-ionic lens (Bausch & Lomb's SeeQuence) randomly assigned to one eye and a high water content ionic lens (Vistakon's Acuvue) assigned to the fellow eye. During the first 7 weeks of extended wear the lenses were removed weekly for sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis of protein deposition, and replacement lenses were inserted. Four subjects completed additional test sessions of 1 minute, 15 minutes, 24 hours, and 1 week extended wear. Lysozyme accumulation, as measured by SDS-PAGE, increased with wearing times up to one week on all Acuvue lenses, but after 24 hours wear lysozyme accumulation did not increase on the SeeQuence lens. Proteins falling into the reported molecular weight ranges of albumin, PMFA, IgG, IgA (sec), lactoferrin and subunits of protein G were evident on all gels at 1 minute of wear, but these protein groups did not have a detectable increase in deposition after 24 hours wear for either the SeeQuence or the Acuvue lenses. In most cases, the protein accumulation evident from SDS-PAGE analysis was not observable by biomicroscopy using standard clinical methods. A few patients reported preference for the initial comfort and vision achieved by the Acuvue lens, but no preference was found after adaptation.