Enhanced the Structure of Ophthalmic Implants (Rigid Contact Lenses) by Aloe Vera Addition

Abstract

Contact lenses are being used by more than 125 million people around the world for ophthalmic treatments. There has been a recent surge in interest in researching and developing new materials for contact lenses (CLs). With the advancement of associated biomaterials, such as drug delivery, these materials will continue to grow in importance in the future. If you're looking to buy contact lenses, you'll most likely find them made out of polymer or silicone hydrogel. To meet the ever-increasing needs for contact lenses and the ever-increasing number of contact lens users, this work aims to study the effect of adding aloe Vera gel to contact lenses, antibacterial behavior, surface texture, and wettability. Results show the addition of aloe Vera natural materials to rigid PMMA contact lenses aid to promote the performance of contact lenses by changing the internal structure of PMMA, especially when using (0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3%) of aloe Vera due to the increasing in OH content as well as the increasing in the uniformity of microstructure. addition of (0.4% and 0.5 %) of aloe Vera make a reverse effect on the structure due to the saturation of PMMA chain with OH leading to destroying the connections between bonds, therefore, weakening PMMA lenses also using aloe Vera gel act to soften the lenses by increasing the OH content in PMMA structure lead to improving the lens wettability at about (0.2-0.3) % after these percentage large drop in whole properties will occur. Keywords: Rigid contact lens, PMMA, natural materials, Aloe Vera, OH content.