Studies on Contact Lens Materials

The development of plastics with the optical properties of glass led promptly to their use as contact lenses and intra-ocular lenses to rectify certain visual defects. Research to improve these polymeric materials is continuous but there is not much in the literature since most of the findings are patented. In this work, polymethyl methacrylate, the most commonly used lens material was chosen as the base material and its co and terpolymers were prepared using 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidinone, hexamethyl disiloxane, and polypropylene glycol. The transparency, refractive index, contact angle, density, equilibrium water content, and percent hydration properties were examined. Theoretical values were calculated for linear expansion and oxygen permeation from the density and hydration values.