Therapeutic use of contact lenses in alkali burns of the cornea.

Rabbit eyes submitted to alkali burns (in 1 N NaOH, 7 mm, for 2 min) were evaluated as to the effect of contact lenses on the corneal reepithelialization. Forty eyes were used, divided into two groups: 3 weeks and those observed for 5 weeks. In each group, 10 eyes received a contact lens while 10 served as controls. From the daily evaluation of the corneal surface as well as the microscopic examinations at the end of the two periods of observation, we concluded that hydrophilic contact lenses provide a beneficial effect on alkali burns of the cornea, reducing the incidence of epithelial defects to statistically significant levels.