CONTACT LENSES TODAY

February 22, 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.

CooperVision Learns of Counterfeit Lenses In France
Recent patient complaints about edge discomfort with contact lenses in France found their way back to New York-based CooperVision because the lenses were found to be counterfeit Proclear Compatibles lenses. According to Tom Shone, the company's vice president of Marketing, the Americas, "The packaging is similar to that of Proclear Compatibles, but the lens material and design are substantially different." The company is working with french authorities as well as with the FDA as a precautionary measure and has a team of people in France to track down the original source of the counterfeits. According to Shone, what really got the company's attention is the fact that some of the counterfeit packaging was found to be unsterile.

Save Your Vision in March
The American Optometric Association (AOA) has a post on its Web site reminding members that March is Save Your Vision Month, now in its 77th year. Just visit
http://www.aoanet.org/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?site=AOAstage&WebCode=HTSYVM to view more information or to access downloadable materials such as an adult checklist, children's checklist, a sheet on eye disease management and a list of at-risk groups. AOA members can send an e-mail to publicrelations@aoa.org to request free materials (the March Calendar of tips, a member promotion guide and more) for the office and the community.

B&L Offers Ortho-K Care System
Last week, Bausch & Lomb announced that it's launching its new Boston Advanced Ortho-K Care System kit to help eyecare practitioners reinforce good lens care practices with their orthokeratology patients. Each Boston Advanced Ortho-K Care System kit contains care products designed to meet the special level of care required for GP lens corneal reshaping, ortho-k and corneal refractive therapy lenses. Each kit includes Boston Simplus Multi-Action Solution; Boston Rewetting Drops; travel bag; DMV remover and instructions; contact lens case; and ortho-k patient care guide. Through the end of March, eyecare practitioners will receive a free care system for every five care systems they purchase.

NEW LOWER PRICE FOR Focus DAILIES 30 PACK
Now available to practitioners for as low as $12.50 per pack. Offer first-time DAILIES patients a 30-day trial at an unbeatable price.
The only daily disposable available in torics and progressives -- now more affordable than ever! http://www.cibavision.com
--ADVERTISING

Unilens Acquires Lifestyle Company's Bifocal Products
Unilens Vision, Inc. has acquired all vialed soft lens bifocal products from The Lifestyle Company, Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Unilens will pay The Lifestyle Company $75,000 plus a royalty ranging from 5% to 8% on all future sales of acquired products over the next two to five years for selected fixed assets, regulatory approvals and various other assets. Unilens will manufacture the product lines at its Largo, Fla. headquarters and manufacturing facility.

Canada's COSMETICeyes.com Offers Color Fashion Contact Lenses Without an Rx
Here's more incentive to educate patients about the importance of regular eye exams and contact lens fittings: Now your patients can go to http://www.cosmeticeyes.com and order color contact lenses without an eye exam or a prescription. The site reads, "The cosmetic lens that's clinically proven to be safe and easy to use." Consumers can order 45-day wear or 180-day wear kits that consist of one set of lenses, one carrying case and a 2-oz trial size of all-in-one solution. All they need is a form of payment and they'll have lenses "designed and created in Italy" in no time.

New Supplement Supports Night Vision and Ocular Health, Company Says
Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals has launched Rogisen, a once-daily, nonprescription dietary supplement to support improved night vision and ocular health. According to the company, the ingredients in Rogisen have been shown to combat micronutrient deficiencies that may lead to night blindness, as well as provide overall better visual acuity and maintain ocular health. The nutrients in the supplement include potent vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that have been shown to play a role in preventing cataracts, AMD, glaucoma and other eye disorders, as well as bilberry. To access additional information about Rogisen, go to http://www.rogisen.com.

Abstract: GP Scleral Lenses and Corneal Swelling
To glean more information on the hypoxic effect of extended GP scleral contact lens wear, researchers at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London followed four normal subjects who wore a GP scleral contact lens overnight in one eye only on four occasions. A masked observer measured optical pachymetry and the corneal thickness of both eyes the following morning immediately after the subjects removed the lenses. On another four occasions the masked observer measured optical pachymetry when the subjects didn't wear the lenses the previous night. The researchers found that overnight wear of the lenses induced a variable amount of corneal swelling among subjects from 5% to 18% and the swelling correlated with endothelial cell density. They conclude that overnight wear of scleral contact lenses caused an increased degree of corneal swelling compared with daytime wear, but that this degree of swelling shouldn't rule out overnight therapeutic scleral lens wear if the disease process is deemed more damaging than the hypoxic effect of a GP scleral lens worn overnight. However, when used for refractive correction, the researchers advise that the lenses shouldn't be left in overnight.

Smith GT, Mireskandari K, Pullum, KW. Corneal Swelling with Overnight Wear of Scleral Contact Lenses Cornea 2004 Jan;23(1):29-34.

Editor's Commentary: Consequences of Fairness
Our story in this issue about cosmetic lenses shouldn't surprise anyone. Contact lenses have been sold all over the planet without a prescription or without a valid prescription for years. At least the new law of the land in the United States requiring giving prescriptions to patients might help us get enforcement sometime in the future. Here's a dilemma one of my colleagues asked: If you don't know what the prescription is until you try a diagnostic or trial lens on the patient and it's an expensive custom design, do you include the cost of the lens along with your professional fee in your original fee? Seems like you have to. This will make it difficult and more expensive for the patient who has a complicated prescription. Then there's the issue of refunds or no refunds. Seemingly "fair" laws will nearly always have unintended consequences.

Fitting Tip: Tip GP Lens Binding Revisited
This is a complicated issue. Even all the great studies that have been done don't tell us what to do in some clinical situations. A case we had this week brought this to mind. Some patients just seem prone to lens adherence. They are all-day wearers and their lenses decenter. So centering the lens is helpful. A lens that is too thin isn't good but many of these are high myopes so thin lenses just don't exist because of the peripheral thickness on the minus lens. Keeping the lenses clean and taking a break and treating dry eye seems to help. Feel free to let us know what you think about these cases.
--Joseph T. Barr, OD, MS, FAAO
Columbus, Ohio

Make Plans to Attend the Global Orthokeratology Symposium (GOS)
(July 22-25, 2004 Toronto, Canada)
Get the tools to implement orthokeratology in your practice.
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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