Corneal endothelial polymegathism induced by PMMA contact lens wear

Central corneal endothelial photographs were taken for 15 persons who had worn polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) contact lenses for 7-15 yr and for a nonwearing control group matched for age and sex. An individual cell area analysis was made from the cell tracings. Significant endothelial polymegathism was noted for each member of the contact lens wearing group. PMMA wearers showed an average coefficient of variation of 0.445 for central corneal endothelial cell area compared to 0.245 for nonwearers (81.6% increase in polymegathism). The average maximum/minimum cell size ratio was 8.06 for the PMMA wearers vs 3.42 for the nonwearing control group. The frequency distributions for the cell areas reveal that the contact lens wearer develops cells that are much smaller and larger than normal.