Despite significant advances in the comfort and convenience of contact lenses, all current contact lens materials still present risks to corneal health. The contact lenses in use today reduce the oxygen available to the cornea due to low oxygen permeability of the lens, particularly during overnight wear. This oxygen deprivation (corneal hypoxia) has been shown to cause stromal and epithelial edema, ulcerative keratitis and corneal neovascularization, as well as other complications. These complications, if left untreated, can lead to permanent eye damage and even loss of vision. Compact Membrane Systems, Inc. has identified a new family of glassy perfluoromembrane materials with oxygen permeability that is significantly greater than that of contact lens materials used today. This dramatic increase in oxygen permeability will not only reduce or prevent the complications associated with corneal hypoxia, it will also allow for much longer contact lens wear schedules. In addition to extremely high permeability, these perfluoromembranes also exhibit optical clarity greater than 95% and an organophobic and """"""""non-sticking"""""""" character (to resist lipid deposition). In Phase I, we will demonstrate the feasibility of these lenses by producing rigid gas permeable contact lenses and demonstrating their superior properties for safe, continuous contact lens wear and ability to minimize lipid and protein wetting.
A contact lens that dramatically decreases the risks associated with contract lens wear, and simultaneously allows for long-term wear schedules is sure to appeal to the 25 million contact lens wearers in the United States. Additionally, a permanent contact lens could be used as an alternative to intraocular lens replacement after cataract surgery.
