The aim of this study was to evaluate the biomechanical changes in the cornea after wearing soft contact lenses (CLs) in healthy myopic patients measured with a Corvis ST® (CST, Oculus Optikgeräte GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany) analyser. This prospective, cross-sectional, single-centre study was performed on twenty-two Caucasian patients aged between 19 and 24 years (20.64 ± 1.21 years) range. Five device-specific biomechanical parameters, the central corneal thickness (CCT), and biomechanically corrected intraocular pressure (bIOP) were measured prior to fitting and one month after CL wear. Differences between the means of the deflection amplitude ratio (DA Ratio) and the standard deviation of the DA Ratio (SD DA Ratio) pre- and post-CL wear were found to be significant (p value = 0.002 in both cases). Significant differences were found between pre- and post-CL wear values in CCT (p value = 0.013). For all other biomechanical measures, no significant differences were observed before and after treatment. A significant association was found between changes in bIOP and classification according to changes in Int. Radius (p value = 0.047) and SSI (p value = 0.026) standard deviations. The corneal biomechanical indices provided by CST demonstrate that the fitting of soft CLs is a safe optical compensation method for the stability of corneal stiffness. No significant differences were found pre- and post-CL wear in the assessment of bIOP.
Keywords: Corvis ST®; Scheimpflug technology; corneal biomechanics; myopia; soft contact lenses.