RT Journal Article
T1 Ocular effects of exposure to low-humidity environment with contact lens wear: a pilot study
A1 Vaughan, Megan
A1 García Porta, Nery
A1 Tabernero, Juan
A1 Gantes Núñez, Javier
A1 Artal, Pablo
A1 Pardhan, Shahina
K1 Adverse environment
K1 Blinking
K1 Contact lens
K1 Environmental chamber
AB PurposeTo compare the ocular effects of exposure to a low-humidity environment with and without contact lens (CL) wear using various non-invasive tests.MethodsFourteen habitual soft CL wearers were exposed to controlled low humidity (5% relative humidity [RH]) in an environmental chamber for 90 min on two separate occasions. First, when wearing their habitual spectacles and then, on a separate visit, when wearing silicone hydrogel CLs that were fitted specifically for this purpose. All participants had adapted to the new CL prior to data collection. Three non-invasive objective measurements were taken at each visit: blinking rate, objective ocular scatter (measured using the objective scatter index) and ocular surface cooling rate (measured using a long-wave infrared thermal camera). At each visit, measurements were taken before the exposure in comfortable environmental conditions (RH: 45%), and after exposure to environmental stress (low humidity, RH: 5%).ResultsCL wearers showed increased blinking rate (p < 0.005) and ocular scatter (p = 0.03) but similar cooling rate of the ocular surface (p = 0.08) when compared with spectacle wear in comfortable environmental conditions. The exposure to low humidity increased the blinking rate significantly with both types of corrections (p = 0.01). Interestingly, ocular scatter (p = 0.96) and cooling rate (p = 0.73) were not significantly different before and after exposure to low humidity. There were no significant two-way interactions between correction and exposure in any of the measurements.ConclusionsCLs significantly increased the blinking rate, which prevented a quick degradation of the tear film integrity as it was refreshed more regularly. It is hypothesised that the increased blinking rate in CL wearers aids in maintaining ocular scatter quality and cooling rate when exposed to a low-humidity environment. These results highlight the importance of blinking in maintaining tear film stability.
PB Willey
YR 2024
FD 2024-03-29
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/43344
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/43344
LA eng
NO Vaughan M, García-Porta N, Tabernero J, Gantes-Nuñez J, Artal P, Pardhan S. Ocular effects of exposure to low-humidity environment with contact lens wear: A pilot study. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2024; 44: 718–726. https://doi.org/10.1111/opo.13308
NO This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 747441 (PI Pardhan) and Anglia Ruskin University Vice Chancellor's PhD Studentship (PI Pardhan), and grants 21095/PDC/1 (Fundación Séneca, Región de Murcia, Spain) and PID2019-34 105639RA-I00 (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spain). NGP is currently supported financially by a Maria Zambrano contract at USC under the grants call for the requalification of the Spanish university system for 2021–2023, funded by the European Union—NextGenerationEU.
DS Minerva
RD 30 abr 2026