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Researchers report epithelial thinning in long-term SCL wearers
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Long-term soft contact lens wear may be associated with a decrease in epithelial thickness, according to a study recently published in Optometry & Vision Science.
Hong and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional, observational study with 80 participants to map corneal epithelial thickness.
Researchers utilized Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (RTVue S, Optovue Inc.) to image the corneal epithelium in 40 eyes from 40 normal subjects and 40 eyes from 40 participants who had worn soft contact lenses (SCLs) for an average of 4 years.
The data was generated into an epithelial thickness map; researchers analyzed several measurements with the SPSS statistical software package (SPSS for Windows, version 20.0, SPSS, Inc).
Results showed that eyes with long-term SCL wear had significantly thinner epithelial thickness than normal eyes.
As detailed in the study, the average epithelial thickness of the central, paracentral and midperipheral zones was 49.2 +/-1.9 µm, 48.8 +/-2.2 µm and 48.7 +/-2.8 µm, respectively, in eyes with long-term SCL wear, and 54.4 +/-1.1 µm, 53.2 +/-2.2 µm, and 52.3 +/-2.0 µm, respectively, in normal eyes.
"For the first time, this study demonstrated epithelial thinning of the central 6-mm cornea and confirms the application of high-resolution Fourier-domain OCT in mapping epithelial thickness in SCL wearers," the authors concluded. "Clinicians should take note of the nonuniformity of the paracentral and midperipheral corneal epithelium thicknesses. This method may be useful for detecting early changes in corneal epithelial thickness caused by long-term SCL wear."
Disclosure: The authors were supported by grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (TR2-01768) and the National Eye Institute (R01EY021797 and 2T3EY007026); the Key Clinic Medicine Research Program, the Ministry of Health, China (201302015); the National Science and Technology Research Program, the Ministry of Science and Technology, China (2012BAI08B01); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81170817, 81200658, and 81300735); and the Scientific Research Program, Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, Shanghai (13441900900, 13430720400, 134119a8800, and 13430710500). The sponsor or funding organization had no role in the design or conduct of this research.
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