Corneal edema with hydrogel lenses and eye closure: effect of oxygen transmissibility

Several investigators have reported that significant corneal edema develops when daily wear hydrogel lenses are worn with the eyes closed. The amount of edema that develops when extended wear hydrogel lenses are worn with eye closure is not well documented. This study compared the amount of corneal edema that developed when subjects wore one daily wear lens with the edema that developed when they wore three lens types designed for extended wear. The daily wear lens was the U3 series Bausch & Lomb Soflens contact lens. The extended wear lenses were the Cooper Permalens, the Soft Lens Hydrocurve II 55 lens, and the Sauflon PW lens. The five subjects developed only small amounts of corneal edema when they wore the four lens types under opened-eye conditions but they developed significant amounts of corneal edema when they wore the four lens types for 3-hr periods with eye closure. The amount of corneal edema correlated well with the oxygen transmissibility (DK/L) of the study lenses. The results can be used to predict the amount of corneal edema that the average patient will develop initially when wearing a hydrogel lens of known water content or oxygen permeability (DK) and thickness (L) under opened and closed-eye conditions.