CooperVision announces the introduction of Avaira, a two-week replacement silicone hydrogel spherical contact lens manufactured with the company's patented Aquaform technology. The lens will be available April 1. 
      CooperVision says that Avaira lenses offer premium performance in a naturally wettable, low modulus material designed to provide a high level of wearing comfort. According to the company, Avaira stays moist without surface treatments, additives or wetting agents, aiding in comfort and minimizing deposits. The company also says that Avaira's modulus of 0.5MPa offers a material that is 30 percent softer than comparable two-week silicone hydrogel contact lenses.
     Avaira is manufactured in enfilcon A (46 percent water) with a reported Dk of 100 and Dk/t of 125. The lens has a UV blocker and features an aberration-neutralizing system, which, according to CooperVision, uses aspheric optics that enhance vision by minimizing spherical aberrations inherent in both the lens and the human eye. According to the company, the lens utilizes an optimized back surface and rounded edge design for easy fitting and better comfort. Parameters include 8.5mm base curve, 14.2mm diameter and sphere powers from -0.25D to -6.00D. Avaira will be available in a six-lens pack or a three-lens trial carton. For more information, call (800) 538-7824 or visit www.coopervision.com.

The 'New in Practice Series' of courses is again being offered at the 2008 Optometry's Meeting in Seattle on June 26 and 27. Expert optometrists and world-class lecturers will cover a comprehensive range of practice management topics geared specifically to students and optometrists in practice 10 years or less, or to optometrists preparing to change practice settings. The courses are available thanks to an education grant from CIBA Vision, A Novartis Company. 
      Optometrists and paraoptometric attendees can review the course descriptions and pre-register online for one or more of the series' three sessions, scheduled for Thursday, June 26 and Friday, June 27, at http://www.optometrysmeeting.org/x4742.xml. The 'New in Practice' series is also open to student attendees. Students may register on-site at the AOA Registration Desk, on a space-availability basis.

Vistakon, division of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., announced that Acuvue Oasys brand contact lenses with Hydraclear Plus are now available in a plano lens for therapeutic use (8.4 mm base curve).
     The U.S. Food & Drug Administration granted an additional indication for Acuvue Oasys in October 2007, approving the lens for therapeutic use as a bandage lens for certain acute and chronic ocular conditions. See the October 27, 2007 issue of Contact Lenses Today for details of the approval announcement.
     Consult the package insert for complete information. Complete information is also available from Vistakon by calling 1-800-843-2020 or by visiting www.ecp.acuvue.com.

CIBA Vision previously announced the launch of the Academy for Eyecare Excellence as well as the First Practice Academy. See the March 16 issue of Contact Lenses Today for details. In a recent update from CIBA Vision the company noted that the launch of the Academy for Eyecare Excellence website has been delayed. A further announcement will be issued when the site goes live. Also the first session of the First Practice Academy will be held in Chicago, not Atlanta. 

At the recent 47th annual congress of the Heart of America Contact Lens Society, the Board of Directors presented the 2008 Optometrist of the Year Award to William Cochran, O.D. and the 2008 Vision Service Award to Richard Weisbarth, O.D., F.A.A.O.
     The Optometrist of the Year Award is presented annually to a doctor of optometry who through unselfish effort has propagated the ideals and philosophy of the society. Dr. Cochran, who retired this past year as President of the Southern College of Optometry (SCO), is a third generation optometrist. Both his parents were optometrists and his mother was among the first women to lay the groundwork for future female optometrists in the profession. A graduate of SCO, he practiced in his home town of Kosciusko, Mississippi where he served in many state, regional and national optometric positions. Dr. Cochran was named SCO President in 1984. He revitalized the college in a number of areas, to include educational quality, recruitment, scholarships, and endowment. His contribution to optometry and optometric education earned him the Tennessee Optometric Association's Distinguished Service Award in 2004.
     The Vision Service Award is presented annually to an individual or group who exhibits extraordinary dedication and untiring service to the profession of optometry. Dr. Weisbarth, a graduate of The Ohio State University, has presented hundreds of papers and lectures, written parts of many books, is affiliated with several eye care groups, and has been recognized for numerous achievements and awards from optometric and other eye care organizations and associations. Dr. Weisbarth serves the academic side of the profession as the current president of the American Academy of Optometry. He also represents the industry side of the profession in his position with Ciba Vision Corporation as Vice President, Global Head for Professional Development and Partnerships.

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Optometry Giving Sight will launch its 2008 World Sight Day Challenge at a special event, featuring a star of one of Broadway's hit shows on Friday, April 11 at Vision Expo East (VEE).
     All VEE attendees who sign up for the World Sight Day Challenge will be invited to the launch, which is sponsored by Marchon Eyewear Inc. The surprise guest will sing a song from her Broadway show and perform a duet with her father, a well-known optometrist from Minnesota. Guests will also have a chance to win tickets to see the Star on Broadway on Saturday, April 12.
     The World Sight Day Challenge aims to raise funds for projects which provide access to services, training of local people and infrastructure development in developing countries where 90% of preventable blindness occurs. In 2007, optometrists from around the world took the Challenge, raising more than $250,000.
     To register, or for more information, visit: www.givingsight.org, email usa@givingsight.org or call 1-888-OGS-GIVE. At VEE, visit Optometry Giving Sight on Level 1 in the Continuing Education area.

An updated report from Prevent Blindness America and the National Eye Institute shows more women than men are diagnosed with vision threatening eye disease every year. Potentially blinding diseases such as glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy strike women in some cases almost twice as much as men. The study also confirmed earlier projections that, as the baby boomer population continues to age, the number of those diagnosed with vision problems is also increasing. Prevent Blindness America estimates that costs associated with visual impairment and blindness costs $51.4 billion year. 
     Prevent Blindness America has designated April as Women's Eye Health and Safety month in an effort to encourage women to make their eye health a priority today to save their sight for tomorrow. For more information, please visit www.preventblindness.org.

Researchers from Japan set out to investigate whether the polymer composition of disposable soft contact lenses affects sequential changes in higher-order aberrations (HOAs).
     Fifteen subjects who wore disposable soft contact lenses with dryness-related symptoms and 15 non-contact lens wearers were enrolled in this study. Ocular HOAs were measured for 60 seconds in each subject wearing a disposable etafilcon A lens (conventional lens) or a disposable etafilcon A lens with polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) after one hour of contact lens wear. During the measurement, subjects were forced to blink every 10 seconds. The aberration data were analyzed in the central 4-mm diameter up to the sixth-order Zernike polynomials. Total HOAs, the fluctuation index (FI), and the stability index (SI) of the total HOAs over time were compared between the two groups. The subjective ocular dryness also was scored.
     In symptomatic wearers of disposable soft contact lenses, the total HOAs, the FI, and the SI with the lens with PVP were significantly (P=0.013, P=0.014, P=0.019, respectively) lower than with the conventional lens, whereas a significant (P=0.018) difference between the two lenses was observed only in the FI in non-contact lens wearers. Subjective ocular dryness with the lens with PVP significantly decreased compared with the conventional lens in both groups.
     The researchers concluded that sequential measurement of HOAs may be a useful objective method to evaluate the effect of internal lubricating agents of disposable soft contact lenses on optical quality.
Koh S, Maeda N, Hamano T, Hirohara Y, Mihashi T, Hori Y, Hosohata J, Fujikado T, Tano Y. Effect of Internal Lubricating Agents of Disposable Soft Contact Lenses on Higher-Order Aberrations After Blinking. Eye Contact Lens. 2008 Mar;34(2):100-105.

In my practice, we don't take our patients for granted and have invested heavily in internal and external marketing to not only attract but to retain our patients. Not everything about our practice is convenient and easy for our patients, so we have been discussing other ways in which to provide convenience and ease of service. Nearly ten years ago we had an inventory of disposable lenses that we could dispense to our patients same day. This worked well sometimes but it seemed like the patient was often provided about half their prescription and the other half had to be ordered anyway. Tracking inventory was certainly difficult, especially as the disposable and planned replacement lens options grew. We stopped this practice as direct shipping became popular and it certainly was a more manageable system for us. We have decided that it is in our patient's best interest to inventory select contact lens parameters again. Our electronic inventory procedures have hopefully improved and as a patient, if I can walk out the door with my contact lens supply in hand, that beats waiting on the mail.
Carla Mack, O.D., F.A.A.O.

This month at www.siliconehydrogels.org: research on patient compliance, piggyback lenses for patients with irregular corneas, measuring intraocular pressure over higher modulus lenses, and part 1 of our 2007 AAO update.