Corneal Sensitivity In A Contact Vs Non-Contact Lens Population Using Brill Esthesiometer
Published 2026 - 44th Congress of the ESCRS
Reference: POCOR441 | Type: Poster | DOI: 10.82333/06gm-1525
Authors: Mrs Maria Fernanda Castillo De La Rosa* 1 , Dr Arturo Ramirez Miranda 2 , Dr Nicolas Kahuam Lopez 3 , Dr Enrique Graue Hernandez 2
1Cornea and Refractive Surgery,Instituto Conde de Valenciana,Mexico,Mexico;Cornea,Instituto Conde de Valenciana,Mexico,Mexico, 2Cornea and refractive surgery,Instituto Conde de Valenciana,Mexico,Mexico, 3Cornea,Instituto Conde de Valenciana,Mexico,Mexico
Purpose
To evaluate and compare corneal sensitivity using the Brill Esthesiometer in contact vs non-contact lens wear healthy population and to obtain a normal cornea sensitivity value using the Brill esthesiometer.
Setting
Controlled prospective single center clincal study carried out at Instituto Oftalmológico Conde de Valenciana evaluating corneal sensitivity in contact lens users vs non users. Sensitivity was measured with Brill Esthesiomneter.
Methods
Inclusion criteria of healthy population included males and females, age 18-60, and for contact lens-wear same criteria adding at least 1 month of use of contact lens. Exclusion criteria for healthy population included; ocular surgery or pathology, use of contact lens, history of corneal infection, systemic diseases. The esthesiometer was used mounted on a slit lamp, the air outlet nozzle is positioned at a distance of 4mm from the corneal surface, the measurement is through a constant air pulse on the ocular surface, we repeat it 3 times to obtain average value in both populations. We used paired tests for quantitative analyses and x2 or Fisher’s exact test for categorical analyses.
Results
We recruited 571 patients, 457 in the healthy and 114 in the contact-lens population in which 66.67% used rigid vs 24.56% soft contact lens. 50.88% were male in the first group vs 38.73% in the second group, and 49.12% were female vs 38.73% males in the second group. The median age was 36.19 and 31.78 respectively. We found no difference according to sex or age. The median corneal sensitivity in both eyes of the first group was 4.13 mbar vs 3.63 mbar in the second group, with a p<0.001. There was no significant p when considering the type of contact lens in the second group or the time of use. We defined as a “high loss of sensitivity” values over 5.5 mbar which was a value over 95% of confidence interval.
Conclusions
We have the first normative database of corneal sensitivity using the Brill esthesiometer. The results show the use of contact lens alters the sensitivity at least by 0.5 mbar. We define the standard of high loss of sensitivity as any value over 5.5 mbar.