SIP-final document

The best solution to keep contact lenses moist (Investigative type)

Introduction (Background Information; Hypothesis; Identified problem)

Contact lenses get dry easily when they are not placed in moisture. Thus, they are always placed in contact lens solution to be kept moist. When not placed in any solution, the contact lens will dry up and shrivel. Eye drops are applied on the eye if the contact lenses are causing your eyes to be dry. Sometimes, water can also help to moisturize the eyes by placing a cup of water in the room to moisturize the surrounding air. Whenever people run out of contact lens solution and are not using them at that moment, they do not know what other solutions can be used to moisturize their contact lenses. As contact lens solution is the solution used to normally store contact lenses, some people wonder if it is possible to keep the contact lenses moist by placing it in water or eye drop solution. Therefore, I am investigating whether the different solutions will affect the moisture levels of the contact lenses. I think that water and eye drop solution will be able to keep the contact lenses moist, however, the contact lens solution will allow the contact lenses to have the highest amount of moisture because contact lenses are always stored in contact lens solution.

Independent variables of experiment:

-       The type of solution used to store the contact lenses.

-       The brand of the contact lenses.

 Dependent Variables of experiment:

-       The mass of the contact lenses.

-       The moisture level of the contact lenses.

Apparatus

-      - Electronic weighing balance (to a min weight of two decimal points)

-      - 100ml Measuring cylinder

-      - 6 petri dishes

-      - Tweezers

Materials

-       -6 “Acuvue Moist” Contact lenses

-      - 6 “Cooper Vision” Contact lenses

-       -120ml Water

-       -120ml “ Blink-N-Clean” Eye drop solution

-       -120ml “Bausch & Lomb” Contact lens solution

Methodology

Step	Experiment procedure or methodology of investigation
1	Measure the mass of the dried contact lenses using the electronic weighing balance.
2	Pour 10ml of each solution using the measuring cylinder, in each two of the six petri dishes.
3	Place each brand of contact lenses in each petri dish.
4	Leave the petri dishes in room temperature for 19 hours.
5	After 19 hours, use the tweezers to remove the contact lenses from each solution.
6	Measure each of their mass using the electronic weighing balance.
7	Record observations and compare data.
8	The contact lens that is the heaviest has the highest amount of moisture.
9	Repeat the experiment.

*Experiment is safe to conduct and does not use any harmful materials or chemicals.

References

Ø  British Contact Lens Association, (no date)

Retrieved from http://www.bcla.org.uk/en/consumers/consumer-guide-to-contact-lenses/the-dos-and-donts-of-contact-lens-wear.cfm

Ø  “ How do I keep my eyes moist while wearing contacts? ” , Firmoo Optical Store, (2012)

Retrieved from http://www.firmoo.com/answer/question/4398.html

Ø  “ How to keep lenses moist overnight. “ , Eye care help, (no date)

 Retrieved from http://help.eye-care.com/4953/how-to-keep-contact-lenses-moist-overnight/

Appendix- Evidence of Trial Experiment or Testing of Prototype

Trial 1

	Mass of contact lens (g)
	“Acuvue Moist” Contact lenses		“Cooper Vision” Contact lenses
Type of solution	Before	After	Before	After
Water	0.16	0.20	0.14	0.17
Eye drop solution	0.17	0.18	0.15	0.17
Contact lens solution	0.18	0.19	0.13	0.14

Trial 2

	Mass of contact lens (g)
	“Acuvue Moist” Contact lenses		“Cooper Vision” Contact lenses
Type of solution	Before	After	Before	After
Water	0.18	0.20	0.18	0.20
Eye drop solution	0.14	0.16	0.13	0.14
Contact lens solution	0.16	0.17	0.12	0.13

The results show that the contact lenses gain the most mass when placed in contact lens solution. Therefore, placing contact lenses in contact lens solution will allow it to have the highest amount of moisture.

However, the electronic weighing balance used is very sensitive and the mass of the contact lens kept increasing and decreasing so I had difficulty achieving the data for the experiment. In the future, if I were to do a more extensive experiment, I would conduct the experiment in an enclosed area with no sound and wind.

The electronic weighing balance and solutions used.

 

Weighing of dried contact lenses.

 

Placing of contact lenses in different types of solutions.

Weighing of contact lenses after being placed in different solutions.

SIP Logbook

When I first started out to come up with an experiment to conduct, I had a lot of difficulty. Every idea or topic I had come up with was rejected. I thought of nail polish, dog shampoo, music, etc. I came up with a whole list of a variety of ideas and topics to suggest. However, my ideas kept getting rejected over and over gain.

Then I decided to stop randomly coming up with ideas but to sit down and think carefully, “What do I really want to find out?” That day, I happen to be wearing contact lenses and it stuck me. “Why don’t I research about contact lenses?” As contact lenses get dry when not in contact with moisture, I decided to find out how the different solutions can affect the moisture level of the contact lens. I researched on the Internet and found out that people wearing contact lenses wonder if it was possible to store contact lenses in water or eye drop solution as they are always kept in contact lens solution.

Therefore, I decided to conduct my experiment on that. I handed up my experiment design proposal form:  

 

My proposal was accepted but I had some advice and questions about my experiment. I had to make some changes to my experiment. My methodology was not accurate and would be not be a good experiment, as I did not weigh the contact lenses before I placed them in the different solutions. I also realized that the mass measured before the contact lenses had been placed in the different solutions had to be of dried contact lenses.

Thus, I changed some parts of the methodology and made it into on which would give an easier and more detailed explanation of the process of the experiment:

Step	Experiment procedure or methodology of investigation
1	Measure the mass of the dried contact lenses using the electronic weighing balance.
2	Pour 10ml of each solution using the measuring cylinder, in each two of the six petri dishes.
3	Place each brand of contact lenses in each petri dish.
4	Leave the petri dishes in room temperature for 19 hours.
5	After 19 hours, use the tweezers to remove the contact lenses from each solution.
6	Measure each of their mass using the electronic weighing balance.
7	Record observations and compare data.
8	The contact lens that is the heaviest has the highest amount of moisture.
9	Repeat the experiment.

After finalizing on how I was going to conduct my experiment, I went to the school laboratory to start on it. Firstly, I gathered all my materials and started weighing the dried contact lenses using the electronic weighing balance.

 

I even used a special container to ensure a higher accuracy of results. Then I place them each in a covered petri dish with the different types of solution.

 

I had made sure to label the petri dishes carefully so as to not mistake one petri dish for another, as the solutions look similar. Following that, I left the petri dishes at room temperature in the laboratory. The next day, after 19 hours, I went back to the lab to complete my experiment. I used the tweezers to remove the contact lenses from each solution and weighed them using the weighing balance.

After doing so, I tabulated the results and compared the mass of each contact lens. After finding out the difference in mass from the dried to the moisturized contact lenses, I concluded that the contact lens solution was the most easily absorbed liquid for contact lenses as compared to the water and the eye drop solution. With this, I completed my experiment.

However, the electronic weighing balance used is very sensitive and the mass of the contact lens kept increasing and decreasing so I had difficulty achieving the data for the experiment. In the future, if I were to do a more extensive experiment, I would conduct the experiment in an enclosed area with no sound and wind. Also, since the object used for weighing is very light, I would repeat the experiment more times to ensure the result’s reliability.