April 8, 2007

Contact Lenses Today® is edited by Dr. Joseph T. Barr and the staff of Contact Lens Spectrum. This week CLToday® reaches more than 12,000 readers in 74 countries.

ABB Optical and Con-Cise Contact Lens have merged operations, creating the largest contact lens distributor in the U.S. The companies say the merger will further improve service levels to ECPs through automation efficiencies and an enhanced ability to stock infrequently ordered lens parameters, which they say will increase order fill rates. There are also plans to upgrade on-line ordering and patient delivery programs. As the companies merge, there will be no immediate change in customer-service. Both ABB and Con-Cise accounts should continue to call the same customer service representatives or use the same on-line order sites.

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Vistakon to Discontinue Acuvue Toric
After Jan. 2008, Vistakon will supply Acuvue Toric contact lenses only while supplies last, as the company will discontinue this lens. To help Toric patients make a smooth transition to Acuvue Advance for Astigmatism (the most widely-prescribed toric contact lens according to the company), Vistakon is offering patients a $75 rebate following an eye examination and purchase of one year’s supply of Acuvue Advance for Astigmatism, as well as 100% money-back guarantee if patients are not completely satisfied with the new lens.

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CooperVision Announces Management Changes
Contact lens manufacturer CooperVision announced it will consolidate its CooperVision and Cooper Companies headquarters operations, in addition to the following organizational changes:
• Gregory A. Fryling, currently president, will be leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.
• Robert S. Weiss, currently executive vice president and chief operating officer, has assumed additional duties as president, reporting to A. Thomas Bender, chairman and chief executive officer.
• Steven M. Neil, currently vice president and chief financial officer, has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer.
The company also said that Mr. Bender has expressed a desire to relinquish his role as chief executive officer by the end of 2007, but expects to have a continuing role in the company.

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Offer Patients a Solution Before They Drop Out Eye Care Professionals seeking to grow their practice should consider how contact lens dropouts diminish practice growth. There are 2.7 million contact lens dropouts annually, with more on the verge of dropping out because of contact lens dryness. What if you could offer patients a solution before they drop out of lens wear, not only keeping them in contact lenses but also in your practice? ACUVUE® OASYS™ Brand Contact Lenses with HYDRACLEAR™ Plus, a new generation of silicone hydrogel, balances properties to meet the demands of contact lens wearers in environments that can make eyes feel tired and dry. ACUVUE® OASYS™ Brand Contact Lenses can revitalize your practice by offering patient satisfaction and practice growth.
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AMO Completes IntraLase Acquisition
Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) has announced the completion of its acquisition of IntraLase Corp. AMO says it expects to leverage the large installed bases of AMO and IntraLase and combine their international expansion strategies to further establish its position as the industry leader in laser diagnostics, flap-creation and ablation technologies. The acquisition also allows it to enter the corneal transplant market with the IntraLase-enabled keratoplasty technology.

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First Vision Summit Held in Washington
The Better Vision Institute (BVI) held its first Vision Summit on children’s vision health, bringing together advocates to review national research and state-based programs to enhance vision care for children and the effectiveness of state policy models to provide this. Attendees included representatives from the vision, healthcare and education fields. Speakers from the National Eye Institute (NEI) shared current research at the national level including highlights from the Vision in Preschoolers Study. Representatives from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) also reviewed research on visual impairment and the use of eyecare services among children. For more about the speakers and research presented, visit http://www.bettervisioninstitute.org.

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CPC Receives NCCA Accreditation
The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) has accredited the Commission on Paraoptometric Certification (CPC) with CPO, CPOA and CPOT credentials.

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SECO to Endorse OGS
At a recently held Board of Directors meeting, SECO International adopted a resolution to endorse the Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) charity, which works to eliminate uncorrected refractive error, the leading cause of blindness and impaired vision globally. SECO will add the OGS logo and a link to its website in its monthly e-newsletter.

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Abstract: One Donor Cornea in Three Patients
A study published in the April issue of Archives of Ophthalmology describes one group’s experience using a single donor cornea tissue in three patients with pathologic corneal conditions. Researchers divided the donor cornea tissue into three parts using a microkeratome and trephine. They transplanted the anterior lamellar disc into a patient with macular corneal dystrophy using the automated lamellar therapeutic keratoplasty technique; the posterior lamellar disc into a patient with pseudophakic bullous keratopathy using the Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty technique; and the peripheral corneoscleral rim in a child with limbal stem cell deficiency via limbal stem cell transplantation.
    All procedures were performed successfully and clinicians followed participants for three month. Best-corrected visual acuities following automated lamellar therapeutic keratoplasty, Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty and limbal stem cell transplantation were 20/60, 20/40 and 20/200 respectively. The authors conclude that the advent of customized component corneal transplantation techniques may allow the use of one donor cornea to treat multiple patients.
Vajpayee RB, Sharma N, Jhanji V, Titiyal J, Tandon R. One Donor Cornea for 3 Recipients: A New Concept for Corneal Transplantation Surgery. Arch Ophthalmol. 2007;125:552-4.

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Editor's Commentary: Clarification
Our news story on a new silicone hydrogel lens from Menicon last week may have been misleading to some of our readers. It is my understanding this launch is not pending in the U.S., but elsewhere in the world.
    Below, Dr. Pier comments on the value of spherical aberration-corrected and -correcting lenses. In general, these lenses will work better in higher powers for those patients who don’t have unusual spherical aberration. I appreciate his feedback and hope others will correspond about your experience with newer contact lens designs and materials as well.

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