CONTACT LENSES TODAY
February 3, 2008
Contact Lenses Today® is edited by Dr. Carla Mack and the staff of Contact Lens Spectrum. This week CLToday® reaches more than 14,000 readers in 74 countries.
CooperVision Introduces ClearSight 1-Day Toric Contact Lenses and Offers New Parameters for Biomedics EP and Proclear Multifocal Contact Lenses
ClearSight 1-Day Toric lenses are the latest addition to the CooperVision daily disposable product line. According to the company, CooperVision now offers toric contact lenses in all modalities, reinforcing its Total Toric Solution, which offers eye care practitioners the widest range of toric products and parameters in the industry.
Per CooperVision, ClearSight 1-Day Toric offers four different axes to fit the majority of astigmats
- including 180, 160, 90, and 20 degrees - and cylinder powers of -0.75 and -1.25. Historical lens-ordering data shows that 84 percent of patients have a prescription that falls within these parameters, according to the company.
ClearSight 1-Day Toric contact lenses feature a 55 percent water content material, ocufilcon D, and are available in: sphere powers of Plano to -6.00D in 0.25D steps, -6.50D, and -7.00D; a base curve of 8.7mm; and a diameter of 14.5mm. The lenses are packaged as five-lens strip blisters in 30-lens cartons and are now available from CooperVision and its authorized distributors.
CooperVision has also expanded the parameters of two of its premium multifocal contact lens products, Biomedics EP and Proclear Multifocal. Both products are now available in sphere powers of +6.00D to -8.00D.
Vistakon Introduces New E-Invoicing Program
The Customer Development Group (CDG) of Vistakon, Division of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Incorporated, has introduced a new e-invoicing program, which allows for online review of invoices and monthly statements. Per the company, under the new program, doctors can stop receiving daily paper invoices and weekly invoice summaries. The new program also provides doctors and staff an opportunity to reprint past invoices and monthly statements, and improve reconciling their account. "Offices have already seen improvements through more intuitive monthly statements," says Jack Rawle, Senior Director, Customer Development. "We expect to make even more drastic reductions in paper waste later this year."
Marietta Vision Offers VisionCare Toric
The Definition AC Toric, previously offered by Optical Connection of San Diego, California, will continue to be available under the new name of VisionCare Toric. The lens will be marketed by Marietta Vision. According to Marietta Vision, the lens is one of the only disposable toric lenses on the market that features High Definition Aberration control optics. For information visit
www.mariettavision.com.
Bausch & Lomb and CrystalGenomics Announce R&D Collaboration
Bausch & Lomb and CrystalGenomics Inc. announced a joint research and development agreement to study potential new treatments for inflammatory ophthalmic diseases. CrystalGenomics will provide new pharmaceutical candidate compounds while Bausch & Lomb will develop product formulations, conduct preclinical and clinical studies, and bring the products to market. Financial terms for the agreement were not disclosed.
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World Glaucoma Day Set for March 6th
In an effort to combat one of the main causes of blindness around the globe, the World Glaucoma Association and the World Glaucoma Patient Organization have announced the first annual World Glaucoma Day, to be observed on March 6, 2008. The day will be marked by awareness and educational events organized by glaucoma institutions and local patient support groups worldwide, as listed on
www.wgday.net.
AllAboutVision.com Announces Sponsorship of Optometry Giving Sight
AllAboutVision.com has become a National Supporter of Optometry Giving Sight in the United States. The company's sponsorship will include a donation as well as advertising and other communications outreach for Optometry Giving Sight. To that end
AllAboutVision.com launched an Optometry Giving Sight advertorial in January directing information about the program to consumers.
"We believe it's incumbent upon those of us whose lives are enriched by eye care options to help people whose vision needs are so basic," said Ron Walker, AllAboutVision.com publisher.
"Optometry Giving Sight, by galvanising the support of our industry, helps bring sight to people who otherwise would have endured a life of functional blindness. We are proud to help further that effort."
"By supporting Optometry Giving Sight, AllAboutVision.com is demonstrating to patients the importance of giving sight to those in need. We thank AllAboutVision.com for this great show of confidence," said Pamela Capaldi, Director of Fundraising for Optometry Giving Sight in the United States.
VCA Becomes The Vision Council
The Vision Council of America (VCA) has formally announced a new name and logo
- The Vision Council. The Vision Council identity and brand was unveiled at the group's 2008 Executive Summit in Naples, Florida.
Per Ed Greene, CEO of The Vision Council,
"It's our mission to provide a forum to advocate better vision by promoting quality vision care products and services in the global community." The Vision Council will continue its meetings and events, such as the International Vision Expos, the Executive Summit and divisional meetings, as well as its training and education offerings.
A new, contemporary logo and a series of new branding materials will officially debut in April at Vision Expo East in New York City.
Abstract:
Contact Lenses and Ocular Discomfort During Exposure to a Controlled Adverse Environment
Contact lens wear is often associated with signs and symptoms of ocular dryness. These drying effects can be exacerbated by certain environmental factors such as low humidity, wind, and visual tasks. The objective of the study was to compare the ability of senofilcon A contact lenses to subject's habitual contact lenses to provide relief from the subject's perceived ocular discomfort during contact lens wear in adverse environmental conditions.
Eleven subjects completed a single-center, double-masked, randomized, cross-over, pilot clinical trial. At the qualification visit, and subsequently wearing senofilcon A study lenses (Acuvue Oasys Brand Contact Lenses with Hydraclear Plus) and control (habitual) lenses at the following visits, subjects underwent a total of three 75-minute Controlled Adverse Environment (CAE) exposures. The primary efficacy variable measured during the 2-week, 3-visit trial was subject-reported ocular discomfort during CAE exposure measured on a five-point scale from 0 (none) to 4 (worst). The endpoint of ocular discomfort was evaluated using a two-sided t-test based on a longitudinal linear mixed model. Lenses were also evaluated for safety, and all adverse events were monitored.
Subjects reported a significantly better mean comfort score when wearing senofilcon A contact lenses (0.49 +/- 0.71 units) compared to the mean comfort score reported when wearing habitual lenses (0.91 +/- 0.80 units) over the course of an entire CAE exposure (p = 0.0068). During exposure, senofilcon A lenses also yielded significantly better mean overall discomfort scores versus no lenses (1.40 +/- 0.79 points, p < 0.0001).
The authors concluded that Senofilcon A contact lenses provided greater relief of subjective ocular discomfort associated with lens wear in adverse environmental conditions than that afforded by both the habitual lenses of contact lens wearers as well as with no contact lens wear. These results should be verified in a larger, appropriately-powered study.
Iii GW, Anderson RT, Osborn KE. The effect of senofilcon A contact lenses compared to habitual contact lenses on ocular discomfort during exposure to a controlled adverse environment. Curr Med Res Opin. 2007 Dec 10; [Epub ahead of print]
Reader Commentary:
Really Evaluate Young Contact Lens Candidates
I have a caution regarding fitting contact lenses on our very young patients. The child must be mature enough to handle the initial application and removal session. If a child is shy and becomes easily frustrated, the teaching session (especially regarding lens application) can go badly, with the child becoming frustrated and wanting to give up. The infamous line "Mommy, I don't want to do this any more" during the teaching results in failure not only for that year, but potentially could leave a bad impression in the child's mind about contact lenses and the child may not be interested in
contact lenses for 2-3 more years. Sometimes, it's best to delay the contact
lens start time for even as little as 6 months until the patient is truly self-motivated.
My best indicators include: 1) They talk to you easily about their interests. Children involved in sports seem to do well as they have shown dedication in another arena like soccer or baseball. Children who play video games discuss their favorite games. Children involved in music talk about favorite artists and dances. The ultra shy child often fails at the teaching session, so one who talks very little may be too immature at this stage. 2) The child talks about contact lenses, not just the parent. If they bring it up before you do, that's real motivation. It also shows a gutsy child who's not intimidated by adults. 3) Fighting with siblings in the office or back-talking the parent usually is a bad sign and drops
those children off my list quickly.
I commonly fit at age 11 as most fit the above criteria. I do well at age 10 if they fit the above criteria well. I have fit only a few 9 year-old patients like the -4.00 soccer star who's motivated. Again, be careful, if they fail at 10, you may not get another chance until 13 or 14.
Mark Greenwell, OD
Papillion, NE
Editor's Commentary:
It's a Great Time
I left Las Vegas last weekend following the second annual Global Keratoconus Congress with great feelings. First, the GKC Education Committee which included Joe Barr, Eef van der Worp, Ed Bennett, Pat Caroline and was led by Craig Norman and the LWW Health Care Conference Group (Heather Seasholtz, Maureen Platt, Helen Solensky) planned an educational and stimulating weekend of clinically relevant topics, the latest research, paper presentations, posters, and workshops on keratoconus and the irregular cornea. In attendance were some 340 registrants from 24 countries and another 100 exhibit personnel from 28 companies.
As I thought back over the weekend, I felt that it is a great time to be a contact lens clinician. We have great lens materials and so many great options for our keratoconus and irregular cornea patients including soft and gas permeable keratoconus designs, asymmetric designs, reverse geometry designs, piggy back, hybrid lenses, mini-scleral and scleral lenses. In the last few years, we've seen innovation in surgical technology as well. Not all of us
are experts at fitting these patients and that's OK. If you feel you could be doing more for your patients than you are or simply don't have the interest in this specialty, I encourage you to refer your keratoconus and irregular cornea patients for contact lens evaluations and fittings to another eyecare provider in the area who is passionate about the care of these patients. It is a great time to be a contact lens clinician!
Carla Mack, O.D., F.A.A.O.
This month at http://www.siliconehydrogels.org consider whether silicone hydrogels require one or more unique FDA class(es); review the case of a pediatric patient successfully fit with silicone hydrogels after a diagnosis of unilateral congenital cataract; read about a study designed to determine the quantity and identity of protein deposited on silicone hydrogel lenses; and review the latest silicone hydrogel research in part two of our synopsis of the 2007 BCLA meeting.
Report adverse contact lens reactions here: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/ or call (800) FDA-1088.
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