Effect of eye patching on the overnight corneal swelling response with rigid contact lenses.

In this study, 23 subjects wore a rigid extended wear (EW) lens overnight with a light pressure patch covering the eye while 19 subjects wore the same type of lens without patching. Corneal thickness measurements taken immediately upon awakening showed no significant difference in corneal swelling between the two groups. This result indicates that light pressure patching does not significantly affect the overnight corneal swelling found with rigid EW lenses, and it suggests that lagophthalmos during contact lens wear does not contribute significantly to the oxygen reaching the cornea during the closed-eye phase of overnight swelling studies.