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The conjunctival sensitivity in soft contact lens wearers

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Abstract

We determined the influence of soft contact lenses (SCLs) on conjunctival sensitivity. A total of 26 volunteers (11 males, 15 females; mean age 28.3 ± 4.6 years; range 22−39 years) without dry eye were enrolled in the study. Subjects with a low corneal touch threshold, atopic keratoconjunctivitis, or vernal keratoconjunctivitis were excluded. In 26 participants, 12 were disposable SCL wearers. Touch thresholds were determined using a Cochet–Bonnet esthesiometer with a 0–60 mm nylon monofilament in 5 mm increments. The length (mm) was converted to tension (g/mm2). Mean touch sense thresholds in the SCL wearers (n = 12) and non-wearers (n = 14) were 10.7 ± 2.57 and 24.6 ± 7.3 g/mm2 in the whole conjunctiva, and 9.07 ± 3.02 and 19.2 ± 7.8 g/mm2 in the upper palpebral conjunctiva, respectively. Significant differences were observed in all locations (p < 0.01). The enhanced conjunctival sensitivity associated with SCL use may contribute to the dry eye-like symptoms in SCL users who do not have dry eye.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) (23792014) from MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan).

Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8602, Japan

    Tsutomu Igarashi, Masafumi Ono, Chiaki Fujimoto, Hisaharu Suzuki & Hiroshi Takahashi

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  1. Tsutomu Igarashi
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  2. Masafumi Ono
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  3. Chiaki Fujimoto
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  4. Hisaharu Suzuki
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  5. Hiroshi Takahashi
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Correspondence to Tsutomu Igarashi.

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Igarashi, T., Ono, M., Fujimoto, C. et al. The conjunctival sensitivity in soft contact lens wearers. Int Ophthalmol 35, 569–573 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-014-9985-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-014-9985-x

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