Production and characterisation of nanophotonic soft contact lenses, International Conference of Experimental and Numerical Investigations and New Technologies

Abstract

Hydrogels have unique physical and chemical properties and therefore are used in a variety of biomedical applications, including drug delivery agents, prosthetic devices, the repair and replacement of soft tissues and contact lenses. Investigation of mechanical, physical and chemical properties of hydrogels is the first step in biomedical application. Poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA), as a biocompatible hydrogel, was first used hydrogel for making soft contact lens. Since then, many researches have been modified pHEMA with the aim of improving its properties. Application of nanotechnology could be one of the possible solutions for improving the characteristics of this biocompatible hydrogel. In this paper, poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) was used as standard material for soft contact lenses (SL 38). This material was incorporated with fullerene C60 (SL38-A), fullerol C60(OH)24 (SL 38-B) and fullerene metformin hydroxylate C60(OH)12(OC4N5H10)12 (SL 38- C), respectively. Three new nanophotonic materials for soft contact lenses were obtained. The aim of this study was to develop appropriate process parameters for soft contact lens micro-turning. Also, studying the thermal decomposition of standard soft contact lens, pHEMA, as well as three new nanophotonic soft contact lenses was one of the main objectives. From the obtained results, it can be concluded that manufacturing process of nanofotonic soft contact lens is considered to be a micro-turning process regarding the cutting depth and tool nose ratio. Further, thermal properties of nanofotonic soft contact lenses were improved comparing to the standard soft contact lens.