Menicon Co., Ltd. announced the appointment of Jonathan Jacobson as the new President of Menicon America effective March 23, 2009. Kaz Murakami, past President of Menicon America, will return to Japan to undertake a new position at the company's headquarters.
     Jacobson joined Menicon last November as General Manager, Global Strategies and Operations and he will continue with those responsibilities as he takes on his new role. Jacobson will continue to be based in Boston, MA.
     "It's exciting for me to undertake this additional new role in our American operations, as I see good opportunities for expanding our business in this important market," said Jacobson. "I very much look forward to working closely with all of our customers in North America," 
     Milton Kallas has also joined Menicon's North America team. Kallas formerly worked for the Boston Products Group of Bausch & Lomb, Inc. He will report to Jacobson and take responsibility for many day-to-day activities of the company. 

CIBA Vision recently announced the results of a new study examining replacement schedule compliance. In a study of 1,654 contact lens wearers, 59 percent of two-week replacement silicone hydrogel patients wore their lenses for longer than the manufacturer recommended replacement frequency (MRRF). Comparatively, 29 percent of one-month replacement silicone hydrogel wearers and only 15 percent of daily disposable (DD) wearers wore their lenses for longer than the MRRF. When patients were asked what their eye care practitioner's recommended replacement schedule was, 10 percent of DD, 22 percent of two-week replacement silicone hydrogel and 2 percent of one-month replacement silicone hydrogel wearers reported longer periods than MRRF.
     The study was conducted by the Centre for Contact Lens Research (CCLR) at the University of Waterloo School of Optometry in collaboration with David B. Sarwer, PhD, Associate Professor of psychology, psychiatry and surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine.  
     Also in this study, the two most frequent reasons for over-wearing contact lenses were "forgetting which day to replace lenses" (51 percent) and "to save money" (26 percent). Eighteen percent of patients reported that it was only "somewhat important" or "not important" to clean lenses every day, 16 percent replaced their lens case every year and 14 percent never replaced their lens case.
     "CIBA Vision is committed to working with patients and eye care practitioners to encourage greater contact lens compliance for overall eye health and wellness," said Dwight Akerman, OD, FAAO (Dipl), Director of Professional Programs for CIBA Vision North America. "In fact, we are embarking on a comprehensive educational campaign to help eye care practitioners communicate to patients the importance of eye health management through proper contact lens replacement." 

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. announced it has sharply reduced what customers pay for both contact lenses and youth eyewear. Walmart and 1-800 Contacts, the world's largest retailer of contact lenses, are working together; the companies estimate they will cut as much as 12 to 50 percent off the costs of a yearly supply of contact lenses. Additionally, Walmart has lowered its prices on glasses and frames for children and youth 18 and under.
     "We believe the customer savings could reach $400 million during the first three years of this alliance," said Dr. John Agwunobi, Senior Vice President and President of Walmart's Health and Wellness division.
     Walmart's program with 1-800 Contacts will allow consumers to purchase contact lenses at discounted prices either in the nearly 2,500 Walmart Vision Center locations, at walmart.com, by phoning 1-800 Contacts with 24/7 customer service, or going online to 1-800 Contacts website. Walmart and 1-800 Contacts estimate that customers have already saved more than $25 million since the program began rolling nationwide in January.
     In addition to low prices derived from their buying power, the companies will offer consumers instant rebates for 1-year supplies of contact lenses at the point of purchase (no need to fill out rebate forms and wait for the rebate to arrive in the mail). The company wants to stress everyday low prices without the need for rebates, middlemen and high/low promotions.
     Wal-Mart will begin marketing the program, along with its other health and wellness offerings, including prescriptions, this summer. For more information and pricing examples, visit www.walmart.com.

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The Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry's (ASCO) Board of Directors has approved the University of the Incarnate Word School of Optometry's (UIWSO) application for Active Membership. UIWSO is ASCO's 20th active member school of optometry. 
      UIWSO's mission is to educate and prepare future leaders in optometry through excellence in education, patient care, vision research and public service, within a context of faith and personal development. The school's primary location will be in the heart of San Antonio's Medical Center. It will include the academic headquarters and one of two clinical facilities. The second clinic will be located on the east side of San Antonio. According to Dr. H.S. Ghazi-Birry, Founding Dean and Professor, "The Eastside Clinical facility is, in my opinion, what constitutes the jewel of the program. We are able to serve a significant population of the underserved. We are able to expand the mission of the university in terms of social justice, community service and the provision of healthcare."
     In conjunction with the Doctor of Optometry program, UIWSO is launching a Bachelors degree in Vision Science. Its curriculum, to be partially taught by the optometry faculty, will incorporate a 2-year rotation through the optometry clinics and will provide the graduates with a strong foundation in vision science.

Vision USA, a program of Optometry's Charity - The AOA Foundation, has received a $100,000 grant from The Alcon Foundation to help Vision USA continue to meet the needs of a growing number of people who are in need of vision care, but are unable to afford it. More than 46 million low-income, working people in the United States cannot afford the cost of routine eye care or the health insurance that covers such exams. As income earners, they typically do not qualify for government aid and private health-care assistance.
     Vision USA, started nationwide in 1991, is a program developed by doctors of optometry who are members of the American Optometric Association. The program provides basic eye health and vision care services free of charge for many uninsured low-income individuals and their families who have no other means of obtaining care. According to 2008 program statistics, the average age of patients is 45 and over 80% of those patients require corrective lenses.
     "The Alcon Foundation's generous grant will help Vision USA reach out to more people in need of routine eye and vision care. We are extremely grateful for this funding," said Dr. Irving Bennett, Optometry's Charity president.

A team of researchers in Turkey retrospectively assessed the course, the rate of bilateralness, prognosis, visual acuity with contact lenses, and corneal changes of a cohort with keratoconus.
     Patients applying to Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology, Contact Lens Division during the period 1975-2005 with the diagnosis of keratoconus were recruited. The follow-up time ranged from 1.5 years to 25 years. This cohort consisted of 273 male, 245 female patients. The patients' ages ranged from 12 years to 54 years (mean age 34.8+/-10.1 years). 518 cases' 1004 eyes were divided into four groups according to their mean keratometry values. The changes in visual acuity, keratometry values and the measurements of the used contact lenses were compared with each other, and statistical significance was sought.
     By self-report, the mean starting age of keratoconus was found to be 22.5+/-7.6 years (range 7-35 years). 59 (11.4%) of 518 patients had unilateral keratoconus occurrence. The acute hydrops rate was found to be 0.3% (5 patients). In patients with advanced keratoconus, new contact lenses were applied with steeper radius of curvature. Penetrating keratoplasty was applied to 15 eyes (1.5%). Visual acuity examination on the patients' last visit, when compared to previous examinations, was found to have decreased by 2-3 Snellen lines due to advancing keratoconus.
     The authors concluded that keratoconus has shown to be a self-limited disease and in their study, with the use of contact lenses, successful outcomes which delayed the need for surgery were achieved in 98.9% of eyes (989/1004 eyes).
Bilgin LK, Yilmaz S, Araz B, Yuksel SB, Sezen T. 30 years of contact lens prescribing for keratoconic patients in Turkey. Cont Lens Anterior Eye 2009;32:16-21.

Besides lens wearing time, lens and lens case replacement frequency etc., maintaining hygiene in lens handling, in my opinion, is the single compliance factor that has the most impact on the success of a contact lens wearer. The patient thus needs to be coaxed to wash and air dry hands before handling lenses and to wash and air dry lens case on weekly basis.
Narendra Kumar, BAMS, DROpt, PGCR
Editor, Optometry Today
New Delhi, India

I separate compliance issues by type of lens: soft or GP. Soft lens compliance issues seem to be more related to improper use of multipurpose solutions and when the multipurpose solutions are generic, the troubles are compounded. 
     GP compliance issues, I believe, are much related to tap water use. Tap water can harbor organisms and the quality around the country is inconsistent depending on the chemicals used to purify it and issues at different times of the year due to run off, etc. GP patients would have much less inconsistent vision and reduced comfort if they quit exposing their lenses to tap water. 
Keith Parker, NCLEC
Advanced Vision Technologies
Golden, CO

As you probably are aware, a Joint Board Certification Project Team was formed by six organizations (AOA, AAO, ARBO, NBEO, ASCO, and AOSA) to re-evaluate the issue of board certification for optometrists in the United States. The rationale and a proposed plan can be found on the AOA's website (http://www.aoa.org/x11017.xml). The potential adoption of the proposed plan is currently being discussed by the six organizations. It is critically important that you educate yourself about this proposal and stay active in your state optometric organization relative to your personal beliefs about this issue. It could have a major impact on optometry in the years to come.
Jason J. Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD, FAAO

This month at www.siliconehydrogels.org: incorporating Acanthamoeba testing into the MPDS licensing process; prescribing silicone hydrogels for post-RK patients; variability in corneal swelling with different silicone hydrogel lenses; and part 2 of our 2008 BCLA update.