Vaughan, Megan;
Garcia-Porta, Nery;
Tabernero, Juan;
Gantes-Nunez, Javier;
Artal, Pablo;
Pardhan, Shahina;
(2024)
Ocular effects of exposure to low-humidity environment with contact lens wear: A pilot study.
Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics (OPO)
, 44
(4)
pp. 718-726.
10.1111/opo.13308.
(In press).
Preview |
Text
Vaughan et al 2024.pdf - Published Version Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Purpose: To compare the ocular effects of exposure to a low-humidity environment with and without contact lens (CL) wear using various non-invasive tests. Methods: Fourteen 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%). Results: CL 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. Conclusions: CLs 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.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Ocular effects of exposure to low-humidity environment with contact lens wear: A pilot study |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/opo.13308 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/opo.13308 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2024 The Authors. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of College of Optometrists. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Ophthalmology, adverse environment, blinking, contact lens, environmental chamber, BLINK RATE, SURFACE-TEMPERATURE, TEAR, DYNAMICS, QUALITY, SENSITIVITY, DISCOMFORT, STABILITY |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > UCL Medical School UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > SHS Faculty Office |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10202551 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
