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Published on: April 6, 2016
Changes in visual quality with soft contact lenses after the instillation of hyaluronic acid eye drops
Carlos Carpena-Torres1, Cristina Pastrana1, Candela Rodríguez-Pomar1
1Ocupharm Research Group, Department of Optometry and Vision, Faculty of Optics and Optometry, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Purpose:
To evaluate the changes in visual function and anterior surface aberrations during soft contact lens (SCL) wear after the instillation of hyaluronic acid (HA) eye drops with different viscosity.
Methods:
A prospective, randomized, and participant-masked study was performed. Twenty healthy participants (25.4 ± 2.6 years) were evaluated. Hydrogel (Ocufilcon D) and silicone-hydrogel (Somofilcon A) SCL were randomly assigned to both eyes of the same participant. Visual function in terms of high- and low-contrast corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) and anterior contact lens surface aberrations (RMS HOA) were measured before and after the instillation, at different times, of different eye drops: saline (control) and 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3% HA.
Results:
Compared with the saline solution, during hydrogel SCL wear, there was an improvement (P < 0.05) in high-contrast CDVA after 3 and 10 min with 0.1% HA, and after 5 and 20 min with 0.2% HA. During silicone-hydrogel SCL wear, there was a deterioration (P < 0.05) in high-contrast CDVA after 1 and 30 min with 0.3% HA. Additionally, during silicone-hydrogel SCL wear, there was also a deterioration (P < 0.05) in low-contrast CDVA after 5 and 20 min with 0.3% HA. In terms of RMS HOA, there were no clinically relevant changes with both SCL.
Conclusions:
The instillation of HA eye drops could have a different effect on visual quality depending on their concentration of HA, the contact lens material, its surface ionicity, or other physicochemical properties that should be studied in future studies.
