Effect of Rigid Gas Permeable Lens Flexure on Vision

The flexure of spherical rigid lenses (various materials) and a soft lens was measured using automated over-keratometry on 6 adapted rigid lens wearers (12 eyes) whose corneal toricity ranged from 1.37 to 3.87 D. The results showed: (1) that there was no significant difference in flexure between polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), silicone acrylate, and the fluorosilicone acrylate lenses (whose Dks ranged from 0 to 115). However, Advent (fluoropolymer) did flex significantly more than the other rigid lenses, and significantly less than the soft lens (Bausch & Lomb U4) and (2) that lens flexure of the rigid lenses did not alter over a 2-h period. We also measured high and low contrast visual acuity (HCVA and LCVA), and the results from subjects wearing Advent and the soft lens were significantly worse than with the other rigid lenses. Finally, the results of this study showed no correlation between rigid lens flexure and permeability and between rigid lens flexure and visual acuity when Advent was excluded from the linear regression analysis.