Corneal swelling and oxygen flux through a soft contact lens

After reviewing the oxygen needs of the cornea, we calculate the increase in corneal swelling which is predicted to occur for oxygen flux through a contact lens at the rate of less than 1.5 microliters/cm(2)/hr. The amount of corneal swelling is inversely related to the oxygen flux into the anterior corneal surface. To keep corneal swelling below 4% requires a oxygen tension of about 11 mm Hg which is equivalent to a flux of 2 microliters/cm(2)/hr.