Simulation of the Effect of Material Properties on Soft Contact Lens On-Eye Power

To evaluate the variation in the optical power achieved following soft contact lens eye fitting for spherical and cylindrical lenses with differing hydrogel material properties.

Uniaxial tensile tests were performed on four hydrogel materials 77% water-content (w-c) hydrogel, 74% w-c blue silicone hydrogel, 74% w-c clear silicone hydrogel, and 64% w-c clear hydrogel (shortly referred to as H77p0, SiH74p5-blue, SiH74p5-clear, and H64p0-clear), under loading conditions that would be expected in vivo. Finite element models of the cornea and contact lens interaction were generated using spherical and cylindrical lenses with powers varying from -10 to +20 D; overall diameters of either 13.5, 14.0, or 14.5 mm; and with material properties matching those determined through experimental testing.

The moduli of elasticity for each of the tested hydrogel materials were 0.195 ± 0.027 MPa, 0.277 ± 0.019 MPa, 0.279 ± 0.01 MPa, and 0.457 ± 0.013 MPa for H77p0, SiH74p5-blue, SiH74p5-clear, and H64p0 respectively. The calculated values of effective power change (EPC) showed strong negative correlations with lens power. This was particularly apparent in the higher end of the lens power spectrum (over +5 D), where each of the materials demonstrated a highly linear reduction in EPC with increased lens power.

Soft contact lenses composed of a stiffer hydrogel are far more resilient to changes in EPC across the lower end of the lens power spectrum (-10 to +5 D). Beyond this range, the material choice does not have a significant effect on the EPC.