PurposeContact lens wearers today spend much time using digital display devices. Contact lens manufacturers are challenged to develop products that account for longer periods of time where blink rate is reduced and tear-film evaporation rate is increased, affecting both visual acuity and comfort. Two manufacturers recently introduced novel daily disposable contact lenses with high surface water content. The objective of the present study was to compare surface water characteristics before and after initial wear of recently introduced nesofilcon A and delefilcon A high surface water lenses with those of etafilcon A lenses.Patients and methodsTwenty healthy subjects wore each of the three lens types studied in a randomly determined order for 15 minutes. After each wearing, lenses were removed and the surface refractive index (RI) of each lens was immediately measured.ResultsThe mean RI of the unworn delefilcon A lens was 1.34, consistent with water content in excess of 80%. After 15 minutes of wear, the surface RI shifted to 1.43, consistent with its reported 33% bulk water content. In contrast, the mean surface RI of the nesofilcon A lens was 1.38, both initially and after 15 minutes of wear, and that of the etafilcon A lens was 1.41 initially and 1.42 after 15 minutes of wear.ConclusionThe surface of the delefilcon A lens behaves like a high water hydrogel upon insertion but quickly dehydrates to behave like its low-water silicone-hydrogel bulk material with respect to surface water content during wear, while both nesofilcon A and etafilcon A lenses maintain their water content during initial wear. The nesofilcon A lens appears unique among high water lenses in maintaining high surface and bulk water content during wear. This is important because changes in surface RI due to dehydration are reported to lead to visual aberration affecting user experience.

Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) has been incorporated over the years into numerous hydrogel contact lenses as both a primary matrix component and an internal wetting agent to increase lens wettability. In this study, complementary analytical techniques were used to characterize the PVP wetting agent component of senofilcon A and samfilcon A contact lenses, both in terms of chemical composition and amount present. Photo-differential scanning calorimetry (photo-DSC), gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID), and high-resolution/accurate mass (HR/AM) liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) techniques confirmed dual phase reaction and curing of the samfilcon A silicone hydrogel material. Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) demonstrated that high molecular weight (HMW) polymer was present in isopropanol (IPA) extracts of both lenses. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) effectively separated hydrophilic PVP from the hydrophobic silicone polymers present in the extracts. Collectively, atmospheric solids analysis probe mass spectrometry (ASAP MS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, GC-FID, and LC-MS analyses of the lens extracts indicated that the majority of NVP is consumed during the second reaction phase of samfilcon A lens polymerization and exists as HMW PVP, similar to the PVP present in senofilcon A. GC-FID analysis of pyrolyzed samfilcon A and senofilcon A indicates fourfold greater PVP in samfilcon A compared with senofilcon A. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 106B: 1064-1072, 2018.

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Silicone hydrogel lenses, with high oxygen transmissibilities, are associated with very little corneal swelling after overnight wear of the lenses.