Flexure Characteristics Of The Wesley-Jessen AIRLens vs. Fitting Techniques.

The Wesley-Jessen AIRLens is one of a new breed of gas permeable contact lenses. It is a co-polymer of t-butyl styrene, has a specific gravity of 0.95 (it will float in water), a Dk
of 25 X 10-11 at 35°, a clinical ability to produce good visual acuities (95% better than 20/30), and because of the inherently strong structure of the lens----it is designed to correct up to 6 Diopters of corneal astigmatism. This last property of the lens is the topic we will investigate in this study, along with the investigation of which fitting technique is optimal for the minimization of flexure with the AIRLens. Eight subjects 15 eyes) having corneal toricity of 1.00 to 3.50 D. were used in this study. 13 eyes had with-the-rule astigmatism, while one subject (2 eyes) had against-the-rule astigmatism. Each eye was fit with 3 lenses-one
lens was fit ON K, one lens was fit 0.50 D. flatter than K, and one lens was fit 0.50 D. steeper than K. Flexure (Over-K's) and residual astigmatism (Overrefraction) were measured for each lens in a masked fashion. The results indicate that 1) Corneal
Toricity is not fully masked by the AIRLens and 2) The best fitting technique is using an AIRLens which is fit ON K.