Gas-permeable cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) contact lenses.

Gas-permeable cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) contact lenses may often be worn succesfully by aphakic and other patients who are unable to wear hard contact lenses. The comfort characteristics of the CAB lenses are betweeen those of hard and soft contact lenses. They are much more permeable to O2 and CO2 than soft lenses and thus are less apt to cause edema. They are more flexible and more wettable than hard lenses. This study presents 50 patients who, having had to discontinue wearing hard contact lenses because of discomfort, diffuse central corneal edema, or visual problems, were fitted with CAB contact lenses. Thirty of the fifty were able to wear the CAB lenses successfully.