Spectral transmittance of UV-blocking soft contact lenses: A comparative study

• Spectral transmittance of some UV-blocking contact lenses is similar.
• Some UV-blocking contact lenses can meet ANSI criteria for transmittance.
• Acuvue Moist showed good spectral transmittance between some UV-blocking contact lenses in this study.

BackgroundThree major parts of sunlight consist of visible, ultraviolet and infrared radiation. Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) can result in a spectrum of skin and ocular diseases. UV-blocking contact lenses help provide protection against harmful UV radiation. We studied the ultraviolet and visible light rays transmission in some soft UV-blocking contact lenses.Material and methodsFour available tinted soft lenses (Acuvue Moist, Zeiss CONTACT Day 30 Air spheric, Pretty Eyes and Sauflon 56 UV) have been evaluated for UV and visible transmission. One-way ANOVA testing was performed to establish is there a statistically significant difference between the UV regions and visible spectra means for the contact lenses (α = 0.05).ResultsPretty Eyes, Zeiss CONTACT, Acuvue Moist and Sauflon 56 UV showed UV-B transmittance value of 0.65%, 10.69%, 1.22%, and 5.78%, respectively. Pretty Eyes and Acuvue Moist had UV-A transmittance values of 32% and 34%, Sauflon 56 UV and Zeiss CONTACT had transmittance values of 48% and 43%, respectively. All of the studied lenses transmitted at least 94.6% on the visible spectrum. The results of the one-way ANOVA statistical analysis show that a statistically significant difference exists within the group of contact lenses tested for the visible (p < 0.001), UV-B (p < 0.001) and UV-A (p < 0.001) portions of the spectrum (α = 0.05).ConclusionAcuvue Moist has the best UV-blocking property and also visible transmission between other tested contact lenses in this study.