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Contact lens wear is associated with the appearance of plasmin in the tear fluid — preliminary results

  • Clinical Investigations
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Abstract

We determined biochemically the plasmin concentration in tear fluid from 50 externally healthy eyes and from 49 eyes during contact lens (CL) wear. After cessation of CL wear, samples were collected again from 41 of the 49 eyes. Plasmin was detected more frequently (P < 0.0001) in the CL-wearing group (75.5%) than in the control group (20%). After the cessation of CL wear (3–21 days), the frequency of plasmin detection in tear fluid decreased significantly (P < 0.0006) but was still higher (39%) than in the control group. We conclude that the occurrence of plasmin in tear fluid is correlated with CL wear. The proteolytic activity of plasmin may contribute to the development of corneal epithelial pathology associated with CL wear.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 4c, SF-00290, Helsinki 29, Finland

    T. Tervo, G. -B. van Setten, R. Andersson, I. Immonen & A. Tarkkanen

  2. Department of Virology, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 4c, SF-00290, Helsinki 29, Finland

    E. -M. Salone & A. Vaheri

Authors
  1. T. Tervo
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  2. G. -B. van Setten
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  3. R. Andersson
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  4. E. -M. Salone
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  5. A. Vaheri
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  6. I. Immonen
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  7. A. Tarkkanen
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Tervo, T., van Setten, G.B., Andersson, R. et al. Contact lens wear is associated with the appearance of plasmin in the tear fluid — preliminary results. Graefe's Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 227, 42–44 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02169824

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02169824

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