AIM: To investigate the corneal histopathology changes induced by soft contact lenses(SCL)at diffent time.

METHODS: Central and peripheral cornea structures of myopic patients wearing SCL(150 cases)and the control goups(150 cases)were observed with confocal microscopy. The examinations were performed 1, 3, 5, 8 and 10a after contact lenses wearing respectively.

RESULTS: After wearing the contact lenses for 5a, the cell density of corneal surface epithelial was lower in SCL wearers compared with control goups(P<0.05)and the corneal vesicle and corneal gutata might be occasionally discovered. The density of Langerhans cells both in the central and peripheral cornea was higher in SCL group(P<0.05), and the tortuosity of the nerve fibers was significantly increased in the eye wearing SCL compared with control group. The densities of anterior stromal cells were lower while the microdot densities in the stroma were higher in SCL group than that in control group(P<0.05). The polymorphology of corneal endothelial cells was more obvious in SCL group, but the densities of endothelial cells were similar between two groups(P>0.05). The SCL wearers showed a thinner thickness of central corneal epithelium than control group(P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: The corneal morphologic changes are more obvious with the longer time, and the changes is not ignored.