Consejo Alejandra, Alonso-Caneiro David, Wojtkowski Maciej, Vincent Stephen J
Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
Contact Lens and Visual Optics Laboratory, School of Optometry and Vision Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2020 Sep;40(5):595-606. doi: 10.1111/opo.12710. Epub 2020 Jul 23.
To investigate the effect of short-term scleral lens wear on the corneal stroma at a macroscopic (thickness) and microscopic (within tissue) level, including regional variations.
Fourteen young, healthy participants wore a rotationally symmetric, 16.5 mm diameter, scleral lens for 8 h. Scheimpflug images were captured before, and immediately after, lens wear, and also on a second day (without lens wear) to quantify natural corneal diurnal variations. After corneal segmentation, pixel intensities of the stromal tissue were statistically modelled using a Weibull probability density function from which parameters α and β were derived.
Both α and β parameters increased significantly following scleral lens wear (by 5.7 ± 10% and 6.5 ± 6.5%, respectively, both p < 0.01). Corneal thickness also increased slightly following lens wear (mean increase 0.49 ± 1.77%, p = 0.01); however, the change in α and β parameters did not correlate with the magnitude of corneal swelling. On the control day, small but significant corneal thinning was observed (-0.82 ± 1.1%, p = 0.03), while α and β parameters remained stable. Both microparameters varied significantly across the cornea, with α decreasing (-15.4 ± 0.7%) and β increasing towards the periphery (+4.4 ± 2.6%) (both p < 0.001).
Corneal microparameters α and β varied regionally across the cornea and displayed a statistically significant increase following short-term scleral lens wear, but remained stable between morning and evening measurements taken during a control day without lens wear. These corneal microparameters may be a useful metric to quantify subclinical corneal changes associated with low level hypoxia.
在宏观（厚度）和微观（组织内）水平上研究短期佩戴巩膜镜对角膜基质的影响，包括区域差异。
14名年轻健康受试者佩戴直径16.5毫米的旋转对称巩膜镜8小时。在佩戴镜片前、佩戴后即刻以及第二天（不佩戴镜片）采集Scheimpflug图像，以量化角膜的自然昼夜变化。角膜分割后，使用威布尔概率密度函数对基质组织的像素强度进行统计建模，从中得出参数α和β。
佩戴巩膜镜后，α和β参数均显著增加（分别增加5.7±10%和6.5±6.5%，p均<0.01）。佩戴镜片后角膜厚度也略有增加（平均增加0.49±1.77%，p = 0.01）；然而，α和β参数的变化与角膜肿胀程度无关。在对照日，观察到角膜有轻微但显著的变薄（-0.82±1.1%，p = 0.03），而α和β参数保持稳定。两个微观参数在整个角膜上有显著变化，α向周边递减（-15.4±0.7%），β向周边递增（+4.4±2.6%）（p均<0.001）。
角膜微观参数α和β在整个角膜上存在区域差异，短期佩戴巩膜镜后有统计学意义的增加，但在无镜片佩戴的对照日早晚测量之间保持稳定。这些角膜微观参数可能是量化与低水平缺氧相关的亚临床角膜变化的有用指标。
