Clinic study on silicone hydrogel contact lenses used as bandage contact lenses after LASEK surgery

AIM: To compare the clinical performance of two types of silicon hydrogel contact lenses used as bandage lenses after LASEK surgery. METHODS: A prospective, double-masked study was conducted on 42 eyes of 21 patients who received binocular LASEK surgeries. The interocular difference in spherical equivalent power was less than -1.50D. Patients were randomly assigned to wear Galyfilcon A (Lens A) bandage contact lens in one eye and Balafilcon A (Lens B) in the fellow eye after the surgery. The responses to a subjective questionnaire on comfort of wearing, corneal epithelial status, conjunctival hyperemia, limbal neovascularization, lens fitting and contact lens debris were assessed 1 and 5 days postoperatively. Corneal endothelium was assessed before and 5 days after the surgery upon bandage lens removal. RESULTS: There was no difference between the two groups in terms of conjunctival hyperemia, limbal neovascularization, contact lens fitting, corneal epithelial status, corneal endothelium cell density (CD) and endothelium cell size (CS) at any postoperative visit. Complaints of discomfort, including foreign body sensation, pain and intolerance were statistically more among Lens B wearers at any postoperative visit (P < 0.05). Lens B appeared to attract much more debris than Lens A at the 5-day post-operative follow-up visit (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The two types of silicon hydrogel lenses investigated in this study demonstrated similar clinical performance in terms of corneal responses and lens fitting. However, Lens A showed a better performance in terms of comfort of wearing and deposit resistance.

Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of therapeutic bandage contact lenses on post-cataract surgery patients

AIM： To evaluate the safety of therapeutic bandage contact lens for post-cataract surgery patients and to illustrate its efficacy on post-operative comfort and tear-film stability. METHODS： A total of 40 participants were recruited and randomly divided into two groups. Group one was instructed to wear bandage contact lenses for a week and use antibiotic eye drops for a month since the first day after surgery. Group two received sub-conjunctival injection of tobramycin and was asked to wear eye pads on the first day after surgery and then were instructed to use antibiotic eye drops as the first group did. Ocular surface disease index（OSDI） questionnaire, slit-lamp microscope examination of tear break-up time（TBUT）, corneal fluorescein score（CFS）, tear meniscus height（TMH） together with anterior segment optical coherence tomography（AS-OCT） and corneal topography were evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively. RESULTS： The subjective feeling（P=0.004）, TBUT（P〈0.001） and TMH（P=0.02） post-surgery had improved in patients who used bandage contact lenses compared with those who did not at 1wk post-surgery. Until three month postoperatively, the comfort degree（P=0.004） and TMH（P=0.01） of group two were still worse than group one. Moreover, TBUT（P〈0.001） and CFS（P=0.004） of the group with eye pads got worse than the results before, whereas the group with bandage contact lenses recovered to normal. None of these patients had infections or other complications. CONCLUSION： Wearing therapeutic bandage contact lens after cataract surgery, compared with traditional eye-pads, is a safe method to improve tear-film stability and reduce post-operative discomfort without hindering corneal incision recovery.

Management of corneal ulceration with a moisture chamber due to temporary lagophthalmos in a brain injury patient:A case report

BACKGROUND This study describes the use of a moisture chamber to treat corneal ulceration due to temporary lagophthalmos in a critically ill patient.CASE SUMMARY A 46-year-old woman was admitted to the intensive care unit after a car accident.She suffered multiple injuries that included brain injury and presented with moderately decreased consciousness and lagophthalmos in her right eye.Within 6 d,her consciousness improved considerably;at which time,exposure keratopathy occurred and worsened to corneal ulceration.Lubricating gel,antibiotic ointment,and bandage contact lens were all ineffective in preventing or treating the exposure keratopathy.Instead of tarsorrhaphy,a moisture chamber was applied which successfully controlled the corneal ulceration.The moisture chamber was discontinued when complete eyelid closure recovered a week later.CONCLUSION A moisture chamber may be an effective,noninvasive alternative to tarsorrhaphy for treating severe exposure keratopathy due to temporary lagophthalmos.