Hydrogel contact lenses modified by quaternary chitosan and epigallocatechin gallate with enhancement of antimicrobial for bacterial keratitis.

Bacterial keratitis (BK) is an acute or chronic transient keratopathy that, in extreme circumstances, can result in blindness. Conventional contact lens (CL) materials also have drawbacks of insufficient antimicrobial properties. The research aims to develop a new potion-containing gel CL based on pHEMA hydrogel with a radius of 15 mm and a thickness of 0.3 mm, using quaternized chitosan and EGCG, which can combine the advantages of natural bio macromolecular materials and active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine. The resulting hydrogel CL has good antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli, as well as appropriate water content (>40 %), anti-swelling, light transmittance (>90 %), and mechanical qualities. The resulting hydrogel CL was biocompatible, had strong antioxidant qualities, good ROS scavenging ability and did not negatively impact normal cells due to the presence of EGCG. Additionally, studies on animals revealed that the hydrogel CL produced reduced the duration of BK therapy without causing any harm to the eye's tissue and was more effective than the antibiotic levofloxacin, offering a more successful plan for the clinical management of BK.