Do UV-blocking soft contact lenses meet ANSI Z80.20 criteria for UV transmittance?

Purpose: to compare ultraviolet (uv) ray transmission in four uv-blocking soft contact lenses with z80.20 standards set by the american national standards institute (ansi). methods: four soft contact lenses including acuvue oasys (johnson & johnson,ireland),acuvue 2 (johnson & johnson,ireland),zeiss contact day 30 (zeiss,germany),and sauflon 55 uv (sauflon,uk) were evaluated for uv transmission. one-way anova testing was performed to compare mean values of uva and uvb transmission for the contact lenses. results: acuvue oasys,acuvue 2,zeiss contact day 30 and sauflon 55 uv showed uv-b transmittance values of 0.24%,1.46%,10.37%,and 2.52%,respectively. corresponding values for uv-a transmittance were 20.81%,33.49%,44.03% and 42.53%,respectively. one-way anova showed a statistically significant difference among the tested contact lenses in terms of uv-b (p < 0.001) and uv-a (p < 0.001) transmission. conclusion: acuvue oasys met the ansi criteria for uv transmission and may thus be a good choice for eye and vision care specialists and contact lens wearers seeking uv protection. © 2015 journal of ophthalmic and vision research | published by wolters kluwer - medknow.