CONTACT LENSES TODAY

February 15, 2004

Contact Lenses Today® is edited by Dr. Joseph T. Barr and the staff of Contact Lens Spectrum. This week CLToday® reaches nearly 10,000 readers in 74 countries.


Ophthalmic Devices Panel Recommends FDA Approval of Artisan/Verisyse IOL
Ophtec USA, Inc. and Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. recently announced that the FDA's Ophthalmic Devices Panel of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health has recommended that the FDA approve the Artisan/Verisyse phakic IOL. The Artisan lens will be marketed in the United States under AMO's exclusive distribution agreement with Ophtec, under the Verisyse brand.

American Optometric Association (AOA) Calls for Posters
The AOA invites you to participate in its Clinical and Scientific Poster Session at the 2004 meeting. Spend one or two hours viewing the interactive poster session on Saturday, June 26, 2004 and you'll earn one or two hours of CE credit.
Visit http://www.aoanet.org/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?site=AOAstage&WebCode=Posters2004 for more information and/or to download an application.

Study Links Ovarian Failure to Dry Eye
In the February issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, results from the National Eye Institute's study of 65 women who have premature ovary failure (POF) and 36 women who don't have POF indicate that women who have POF also have androgen deficiency, which is associated with dry eye. The study found 20% of the women who have POF met dry eye diagnostic criteria, compared with 3% of those without POF. Women with POF were also more likely than the other women to have ocular surface damage and symptoms of dry eye.

The leaking bucket of practice profitability: Research shows that 24 million patients in the United States have dropped out of wearing contact lenses. In fact, 2.7 million contact lens wearers drop out every year. This means, on average, that each of the 35,000 eyecare offices in the United States lose approximately 75 patients every year.
The number-one reason why contact lens patients "drop out" is discomfort. VISTAKON is excited to announce the launch of ACUVUE ADVANCE Brand Contact Lenses with HYDRACLEAR. A recent clinical trial showed ACUVUE ADVANCE with HYDRACLEAR to be superior to both FOCUS Night and Day and even ACUVUE 2 for maintaining long, comfortable wear. Delight your patients. Begin fitting ACUVUE ADVANCE with HYDRACLEAR today. http://www.ecp.acuvue.com

--ADVERTISING

Art Optical and MCO Join to Develop CL Residency Program
Over the next three years, Art Optical will help fund the development of the Contact Lens Residency Program at the Michigan College of Optometry (MCO). The college will offer the program the fall of 2004 and will use facilities at both MCO and Art Optical. The Contact Lens Residency Program will be the fourth post-graduate residency program at MCO (others include Primary Care, Ocular Disease and Medical and Refractive Surgery Co-Management). The goals of the program include providing extensive and varied clinical experience; developing the resident's abilities to educate and instruct others; and improving the resident's understanding of experimental design and statistical analysis, and to apply this knowledge in critical review of the ophthalmic literature.

American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Needs Survey Takers
The AAO is inviting all practicing U.S. ophthalmologists, emergency, pediatric and family physicians who treat eye injuries, to participate in a one-day survey, the Eye Injury Snapshot Project, on Monday, May 17, 2004. The AAO plans to use the data from the survey to provide a basis for ongoing annual data-gathering efforts and to create public awareness of eye injuries while encouraging eye health and safety behaviors. If you'd like more information or want a copy of the survey, visit http://www.aao.org/snapshot. Complete and return all surveys to the Academy by May 31.

ICO Presents Medal of Honor
The Illinois College of Optometry (ICO) presents its Presidential Medal of Honor to individuals who demonstrate excellence in making a contribution to education and patient care activities related to optometry and vision care. On January 28, 2004, ICO presented its Medal of Honor to William G. Allyn, son of the founder of Welch Allyn, Inc. Mr. Allyn became president of Welch Allyn in 1947 and served in that role until he became chairman in 1977.

Abstract: Lotrafilcon A Lens Works as Bandage after LASEK
Researchers conducted a prospective, open-label, non-randomized clinical trial with 30 patients treated with unilateral laser-assisted sub-epithelial keratomileusis (LASEK) and fit them with a lotrafilcon A silicone hydrogel soft contact lens that the patients wore continuously for three to four days post-op. After recording lens movement and slit lamp evaluations of conjunctival hyperemia one, two and three days post-op, as well as the condition of the corneal epithelium after lens removal, the researchers reviewed the patients' ratings of subjective comfort and presence of symptoms or pain. An average of 80% of eyes showed normal or trace conjunctival hyperemia during the trial and an average of 99% of patients rated their symptoms or pain as either "absent" or "mild" during the trial. The researchers concluded that the lotrafilcon A lens is an effective and well-tolerated bandage lens after LASEK.
Szaflik JP, Ambroziak AM, Szaflik J. Therapeutic Use of a Lotrafilcon A Silicone Hydrogel Soft Contact Lens as a Bandage After LASEK Surgery. Eye & Contact Lens 2004 Jan; 30(1):59-62.


Editor's Commentary: Keeping Others Informed When Problems Arise
We appreciate a commentary from Michael Billig, OD from Baltimore. Dr. Billig comments and I respond.
"Why is it that we have to jump through hoops for every patient who wants to shop for their lenses?"
Because one of our colleagues denied a legislator's wife a contact lens prescription and the legislators want contact lens prescriptions to be treated like spectacle or drug prescriptions.
"It seems that 1-800 Contacts does not put time and date stamps on the faxes that we receive. We know it's not due to our fax machine because every other fax has the time and date. So how do we know that we are complying within the necessary time frame for positive verification? I called 1-800 Contacts with regard to this and their phone rep said that she would 'pass my message along.' Of course, I never head back. And I e-mailed the FDA, who also never responded."
I am sure none of our readers are surprised by any of this. But we agree on how frustrating all of this is. Good for you for reporting it to the FDA. I would suggest you report it to the AOA as well. In our state, 1-800's faxes say that we should write the contact lens prescription for two years, as our state law demands, however, this is not what our state law demands.
Dr. Billig has reported fax-related problems and assumes unconfirmed prescriptions were shipped. I suggest we all report problems such as this to the FTC as well. For the full text of Dr. Billig's documentation of problems with the "Fairness" Act, stay tuned to Contact Lens Spectrum. Finally, Dr. Billig states it well for most of his colleagues:
"If we don't do everything correctly to be 'fair to the contact lens consumer,' then we're fined. If the patient has a problem then they can sue us. The suppliers get to do business they way they always have, the manufacturers don't care because they still get to sell contact lenses and the federal government doesn't police anything that's going on."
As I always say, until we document the patients who get harmed, this will go on and on.

Our readers may be interested in this Web address:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/01/fyi0408.htm


Fitting Tip: Reader Responds to Last Week's Tip
It's an interesting situation, but one that I'm familiar with, being a 51-year-old monovision LASIK patient who has some halos. To me, GP lenses, bifocal contact lenses or extended wear all seem like overkill. The purpose of shedding my -9.00s was to simplify life, not complicate it. I can do most any task well without correction, but for those times that I need to see "A+" instead of "A-," I put on a lightweight pair of glasses or occasionally wear one or two Focus Dailies lenses. Your patient might enjoy CooperVision Aspherics or a pair of Soflens 66 torics for occasional use.
--Paul Roline, OD
Eugene, Ore.
The Global Orthokeratology Symposium (GOS) is Approaching
(July 22-25, 2004 Toronto, Canada)
The only worldwide meeting focused solely on orthokeratology/corneal reshaping.
http://www.gos2004.com


Report adverse contact lens reactions here: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/ or call (800) FDA-1088.

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