Effect of Contact Lens Wear on Immune Cell Density and Morphology of the Ocular Surface

An estimated 40 million people in the United States wear contact lenses, with approximately
38 million soft lens wearers and 2 million rigid gas permeable lens wearers. The ocular
surface has been shown to respond to the introduction of foreign materials with upregulation
of proinflammatory mediators, leading to an increase in inflammation. The corneal can show
a foreign body immune response to contact lenses. The purpose of this study is to utilize
in-vivo confocal microscopy to describe differences in corneal epithelial immune status
across the three lens care regimens in new contact lens wearers.