CIBA Vision announced the introduction of Air Optix for Astigmatism, a silicone hydrogel contact lens that, according to the company, provides outstanding performance and excellent stability; achieving 95 percent first lens fit success, and the highest oxygen transmissibility of any available soft toric lens.
     Per the company's announcement, the Air Optix for Astigmatism Precision Balance 8|4 lens design features a wide optic zone to provide excellent visual acuity, and ensures the lens fitting characteristics and axis orientation are consistent from patient to patient. Additionally, they report that 99 percent of Air Optix for Astigmatism lenses have acceptable or optimal fit at dispensing and stabilize on the eye in just 30 seconds.
     The thickest points of the Air Optix for Astigmatism lens are at the 8 and 4 o'clock positions. Per CIBA Vision, this minimizes interaction with the lower lid for excellent comfort and is designed to allow the lens to adopt a stable position for consistently clear vision. Along with the constant contoured edge, this design provides outstanding stable vision and comfort throughout the wearing schedule, according to the company.
     Air Optix for Astigmatism offers a Dk/t of 108 @ -3.00D. The lenses also feature CIBA Vision's patented, permanent, biocompatible plasma surface treatment that helps resist deposits and maintain excellent wettability.    
     Air Optix for Astigmatism will roll out to U.S. eye care professionals over the next several months. With the launch of this lens, CIBA Vision is introducing the Air Optix brand name in the U.S. with a recommended monthly replacement schedule to encourage patient compliance. Research shows 56 percent patient compliance for those wearing monthly lenses, per data on file at CIBA Vision, an increase of more than twice the compliance rate of 1-2 week lenses. The company reports that this data also shows that as few as 26 percent of patients wearing 1-2 week disposable-type contact lenses are compliant with the recommended replacement schedule.
     Air Optix will now be the global brand name and future new CIBA Vision silicone hydrogel products will launch under this brand name with a monthly placement schedule. For more information, visit www.cibavision.com.

Lens Dynamics, Inc. announces two new additions to its keratoconus contact lens designs: Dyna Cone Plus and Dyna Intra-Limbal. Lens Dynamics' Quadrant Specific lathing is now available for both base curve and edge lift treatment. The edge treatment Quad Sym PC option, allows the practitioner to flatten or steepen the edge treatment differently in all four quadrants. The posterior surface can also be made in four separate radii with the Quad Sym BC option. According to the company, these options give the eye care practitioner maximum fitting flexibility for highly irregular corneas.  For more information see the Quadrant Specific article at www.lensdynamics.com.

CooperVision has launched a new online resource to help patients learn more about contact lens care and the technologies behind CooperVision's contact lenses. CooperVision.tv is specifically designed as a resource for eye care practitioners to use with their patients to further their understanding of contact lens wear and care techniques and explain the technologies behind CooperVision's contact lens portfolio. According to the company, this service is the first of its kind in the contact lens industry, and requires no registration or fee to use it.
     After patients are fitted in contact lenses, eye care practitioners can review the instructional videos with their patients in the office or provide them with a link that will allow them to reach CooperVision.tv anywhere with access to a computer with a high-speed Internet connection. Practitioners can also include the website link on appointment cards, e-mail newsletters, and electronic recalls.
     CooperVision.tv includes a number of helpful and easy-to-understand videos, including videos on: contact lens wear and care; multifocal contact lenses; contact lenses for the emerging presbyope; Biofinity with Aquaform Technology; and PC Technology, as used in CooperVision's PC Hydrogel lenses, such as Proclear 1-day. Practitioners can access CooperVision.tv directly or via the secure website reserved for practitioners on www.coopervision.com.

Johnson & Johnson Vision Care announced a multi-faceted marketing campaign designed to promote ocular health and highlight the availability of 1-Day Acuvue Moist brand contact lenses in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and Central America. Per the announcement, the company has partnered with McCann Erickson of Puerto Rico to design a comprehensive marketing plan focusing attention on the health, comfort and convenience benefits of its new product, while emphasizing the importance of getting an annual eye exam. 
     Currently being executed, the first phase of the campaign includes television, print, radio and outdoor advertising, as well as a complimentary 5-day trial pack offer when patients complete an eye examination. Telemundo, TBS, E!, and Lifetime are among the television stations running Johnson & Johnson's 30-second spot. In print, full page ads can be seen in Caras, Cosmopolitan, Vanidades and Buena Vida. As the campaign transitions into its second phase, some mass media elements will be replaced with a comprehensive public relations and community outreach program designed to underscore the health benefits of eye examinations through experiential games and interactive events.

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SynergEyes, Inc., the high Dk hybrid contact lens manufacturer, has been awarded its sixth United States patent. The company reports that the new patent is for improving the hydrophilicity, the long-term comfort and wettability, of hybrid contact lenses.
     SynergEyes' other patents are for the high Dk hybrid lens itself, the HyperBond technology that provides the strong junction between the rigid center and soft skirt, and the method used to provide a rotationally stable platform for front surface toric, decentered multifocal and wavefront-guided hybrid lenses.
      SynergEyes lenses with FDA market clearance include SynergEyes A for naturally occurring ametropia, targeting patients with astigmatism, current gas permeable lens wearers, and patients demanding optimized vision; the SynergEyes KC for keratoconus, the SynergEyes M lens for presbyopia and the SynergEyes PS for post surgery and post trauma refractive errors. For more information, visit www.synergeyes.com.

The Novartis Consumer Health Division announced the appointment of Andrea Saia as CEO of CIBA Vision effective immediately. Prior to her appointment, Andrea was COO of CIBA Vision and held several global positions of increasing responsibility within the company. Andrea succeeds Michael Kehoe, who has decided to pursue outside career opportunities. Novartis and CIBA Vision thank Michael Kehoe for his leadership and great commitment to CIBA Vision, and wish him much success with his future endeavors.

The Second World Conference on Optometric Globalization (WCOG2) will take place in London April 11-13, 2008. Hosted by the World Council of Optometry and the European Council of Optometry and Optics in conjunction with the College of Optometrists, WCOG2 has been designed to appeal to leaders from professional organizations, governmental agencies, ophthalmic industry, regulatory boards, educational institutions, accreditation agencies, public health organizations and non-governmental organizations throughout the world.
     The conference features five sessions that will address the political, humanitarian and commercial aspects of the development of effective, efficient policies and delivery care systems that improve visual health.
     - Understanding the relationship between public health, development and globalization
     - Global competition and the economic realities of improved health status
     - Transforming the workforce: scope of practice challenges
     - Education and accreditation: strategies for public health impact in an era of globalization
     - The impact of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight in responding to the challenges of globalization and public health.
A host of international speakers will address the conference. For more information please visit:
www.college-optometrists.org/index.aspx/pcms/site.News_and_Events.g2_conference.g2_conf_home

Bausch & Lomb announced that Paul H. Sartori, Ph.D., will join the company as corporate vice president and chief human resources officer on March 17. Dr. Sartori has more than two decades of experience in the healthcare, pharmaceutical and diagnostic industries. Most recently, he was senior vice president of organizational development and human resources for Boston-based BioTrove, Inc. From 2000 to 2007, he was a partner and principal at CHM Partners International, LLC, an international executive search and management consulting firm. He has also served as executive vice president, External Affairs and Human Resources at Novartis; senior vice president of Human Resources and Communications at CIBA-Geigy; and global vice president of Human Resources at CIBA-Corning Diagnostics. In addition, Dr. Sartori has held teaching and administrative roles at the University of Virginia and James Madison University.

In this study from Spain, copolymerization of hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) with a methacrylated-derivative of beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) was evaluated as a way to obtain hydrogels with tunable mechanical and drug loading and release properties, particularly for preparing medicated soft contact lenses.
     A fully methacrylated beta-CD monomer was synthesized and added to the HEMA and cross-linker solution at concentrations ranging from 0.042 to 0.333gml(-1) (i.e. 0.23-1.82mol.%). Thermal polymerization led to transparent hydrogels with a degree of conversion above 74%, which showed a high cytocompatibility and did not induce macrophage response. The greater the content in methacrylated beta-CD was, the higher the glass transition temperature, the lower the degree of swelling and free water proportion, and the greater the storage and loss moduli of the swollen disks. These findings are directly related to the increase in the degree of cross-linking caused by the methacrylated beta-CD.
     Loading studies were carried out with hydrocortisone and acetazolamide, both able to form complexes with CDs in water and in lacrimal fluid. Hydrocortisone loading progressively decreased as the content in methacrylated beta-CD rose due to a decrease in the volume of aqueous phase of the hydrogel. Acetazolamide loading showed a maximum for an intermediate content in beta-CD (0.125-0.167gml(-1)) owing to a balance between complexation with beta-CD and hydrogel mesh size.
     The hydrogels sustained drug delivery for several days, the acetazolamide release rate being dependent on the beta-CD content. An adequate selection of the content in beta-CD enables pHEMA-co-beta-CD hydrogels suitable for specific biomedical applications to be obtained.
Dos Santos JF, Couceiro R, Concheiro A, Torres-Labandeira JJ, Alvarez-Lorenzo C., Poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-methacrylated-beta-cyclodextrin) hydrogels: Synthesis, cytocompatibility, mechanical properties and drug loading/release properties. Acta Biomater. 2008 Jan 11; [Epub ahead of print]

When I lecture or write on good coding practices, I emphasize that you must have the proper resources like up-to-date 2008 CPT and ICD9 code books. The same holds true for providing excellent contact lens care. I find it amazing that so many contact lens practitioners are fitting patients without the appropriate resources on hand like an up-to-date CLASS or Tyler's Quarterly. I'm not sure how you can offer your patient the most technologically advanced contact lenses and then reference the lens availability from a 2004 resource. I will take this opportunity to recommend that you visit the websites of contact lens manufacturers. Many of these sites offer a broad range of information like lens options and availability, practitioner fitting tips, fitting calculators and practice management information. There is a wealth of easy to download information for your patients and staff right at your fingertips.
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.