Corneal oxygen uptake under a soft contact lens in phakic and aphakic eyes.

A simple and comfortable procedure is used to measure the decay of oxygen content of a soft contact lens on a human cornea when the anterior surface of the lens is blocked from further supply of oxygen. Calculations from this measurement give the steady-state oxygen tension under the soft contact lens and the oxygen flux into the cornea when the eye is open but wearing a contact lens. When the procedure is applied to phakic and aphakic human eyes, the results indicate that for both states, the oxygen uptake by the cornea is about the same when the uptake levels are above 1 microliter/cm2 . hr and oxygen tensions under the lens are above 10 mm Hg.