Variations in the corneal surface temperature with contact lens wear

Abstract

This paper presents the two-dimensional simulation of heat propagation in the human eye model during contact lens wear with finite element analysis. Three types of contact lens are studied: Lotrafilcon A, Balafilcon A, and Etafilcon A. The models are solved for both steady and transient solutions. The corneal surface temperature during contact lens wear is found to decrease (average, 0.52 ± 0.05°C compared with a bare cornea for all lens types). A contact lens with a higher water content has a lower steady state temperature than a contact lens with a lower water content does. Various initial temperatures for the contact lens are found to affect the first 400 s of the temperature variation. When the initial temperature is lower than the corneal temperature, a reduction in temperature is observed during contact lens insertion while the opposite is observed when the initial temperature is higher than the corneal temperature. The increase in evaporation rate when a contact lens is worn increases the cooling effect on the ocular surface. This is suggested to be the cause of lower corneal surface temperature when wearing a contact lens.