ELZA’s Julia Schinzel wins top SBAO Award

ELZA’s Julia Schinzel wins the SBAO Award for best undergraduate thesis from the Swiss Board of Optometrists, along with course-mate Alice Christen.

The optometrists’ thesis had the title “Investigation of the variability and reproducibility of corneal sensitivity” (1) and involved the investigation of three different methods of performing corneal sensitivity tests – the classic standard of care Cochet-Bonnet Aesthesiometer (CBA) with two newer device, the Liquid Jet Aesthesiometer (LJA) and the Tactile Aesthesiometer (TA). The team wished to know whether each device delivered reproducible values, whether there is a difference in sensitivity thresholds between contact lens wearers and non contact lens wearers, and whether there is any correlation between the sensitivity thresholds of these devices. To do so, they recruited 66 test subjects, split equally into three groups (subjects with soft contact lenses (CL), subjects with rigid gas permeable CL, subjects without CL) , who underwent corneal sensitivity assessments using CBA, LJA and TA.

What they found was that TA assessments resulted in the most variable (and therefore least reliable) results of the three methods, but there were no statistically significant differences in the sensitivity thresholds between the three groups. Interestingly, a previous study (2) suggested that contact lens wearers have lower corneal sensitivities than non-contact wearers, but when the investigators examined the data from their experiments, they did not observe this to be the case, reflecting the results of more recent publication on this topic (3-5).

References

1.  Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz. Bachelor’s theses from the optometry course. 2022. Available at: https://www.fhnw.ch/plattformen/bachelor-arbeiten-technik/optometrie/
2. Murphy PJ, Patel S, Marshall J. The Effect of Long-term, Daily Contact Lens Wear on Corneal Sensitivity: sensitivity of change from low to high oxygen transmissibility contact lenses. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2012;53(3):1177-1181. doi:10.1167/iovs.11-8416
3. Situ P, Simpson TL, Jones LW, Fonn D. Effects of Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lens Wear on Ocular Surface Sensitivity to Tactile, Pneumatic Mechanical, and Chemical Stimulation. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2010;51(12):6111-6117. doi:10.1167/iovs.09-4807
4. Golebiowski B, Papas EB, Stapleton F. Corneal and conjunctival sensory function: the impact on ocular surface sensitivity of change from low to high oxygen transmissibility contact lenses. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2012;53(3):1177-1181. doi:10.1167/iovs.11-8416
5. Lum E, Golebiowski B, Gunn R, Babhoota M, Swarbrick H. Corneal sensitivity with contact lenses of different mechanical properties. OptomVis Sci. 2013;90(9):954-960. doi:10.1097/OPX.0000000000000016