The Lysozymal Concentration in Tear Film of Contact Lens Us ers

Song, Beak Ran; Kim, Do Kyun; Byon, Do Seok

Abstract

The contact lens wearers are exposed to the risk of permanent visual dysfunction due to various ocular diseases, especially corneal infections. And ocular disease of contact lens wearers are reported to be closely related to the biochemical alterations of tear film. To compare the lysozyme concentration of reflex tear in normal subjects and contact lens wearers, the tear was collected from 38 eyes of 38 normal subjects and 34 eyes of 34 contact lens wearers. The age of the subjects were between 20 to 39 years. The mean concentration of tear lysozyme were 3.55 +/-0.9 6 milligram/milliliter in normal subjects and 3.66 +/-1.02 milligram/milliliter in contact lens wearers. There was no statisti-cally significant difference between the two groups[p>0.05 ]. Though contact lens wearing does not decrease the concentration of tear lysozyme, it seems that this protein serves as a mediator of corneal infection by adhering to the surface of the contact lenses.