Corneal swelling response of the aphakic eye.

Corneal swelling response was measured for 12 unilateral aphakic subjects wearing high-plus hydrogel contact lenses on both eyes. Significantly less corneal edema was measured for aphakic eyes than for phakic eyes after 2, 4, and 6 hr of lens wear. These results indicate that the cornea of the aphakic eye responds differently to a given physiologic challenge than does the cornea of the phakic eye. Previous estimates of oxygen permeability required of contact lens materials for extended wear may be artificially high for aphakic eyes.