Limited lateral spread of stromal edema in the human cornea fitted with a ('donut') contact lens with a large central aperture.

Topographical corneal thickness changes were monitored in 10 subjects who each wore a hydrogel contact lens with a large central aperture ("donut" lens) for 6 hours. Analysis of local corneal thickness changes indicates that no corneal swelling occurred in the central exposed area of the cornea, but significant swelling occurred in the area of the cornea covered by the lens. The lateral cut-off point of corneal swelling was well-defined, indicating that the contact lens-induced corneal edema did not spread laterally to the exposed area of the cornea over the six-hour wearing period. Swelling of the peripheral cornea covered by the lens was found to be significantly greater with a tightly-fitting, immobile donut lens than with a loosely-fitting lens, suggesting that tear mixing may explain in part the apparent averaging of edema during open-eye wear of hydrogel lenses of varying thickness profile. The possibility that lateral spread of lactate within the stroma may contribute to this apparent averaging of edema was not confirmed in this study. We suggest that rapid metabolism or elimination of lactate in the exposed region of the cornea, or evaporation through the central lens aperture, may have contributed to the maintenance of normal central corneal thickness during open-eye wear of the donut lens.