Effect of plasma treatment on the performance of two drug-loaded hydrogel formulations for therapeutic contact lenses.

Although the plasma technology has long been applied to treat contact lenses, the effect of this treatment on the performance of drug-loaded contact lenses is still unclear. The objective of this work is to study the effect of nitrogen plasma treatment on two drug-loaded polymeric formulations which previously demonstrated to be suitable for therapeutic contact lenses: a poly-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (pHEMA) based hydrogel loaded with levofloxacin and a silicone-based hydrogel loaded with chlorhexidine. Modifications of the surface and the optical properties, and alterations in the drug release profiles and possible losses of the antimicrobial activities of the drugs induced by the plasma treatment were assessed. The results showed that, depending on the system and on the processing conditions, the plasma treatment may be beneficial for increasing wettability and refractive index, without degrading the lens surface. From the point of view of drug delivery, plasma irradiation at moderate power (200 W) decreased the initial release rate and the amount of released drug, maintaining the drug activity. For lower (100 W) and higher powers (300 W), almost no effect was detected because the treatment was, respectively, too soft and too aggressive for the lens materials.