CONTACT LENSES TODAY
May 20, 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.
CooperVision Launches Online Learning Center
Contact lens manufacturer CooperVision has launched a new, online learning center at http://learning.coopervision.com. The site offers
contact lens training and support and was designed to help professionals develop knowledge on a broad range of topics. The center offers links to accredited prepaid courses available from the Contact Lens Society of
America (CLSA) and the American Optometric Association (AOA) as well as the opportunity to receive Council on Optometric Practitioner Education (COPE) credit through select course work available on the site. In
addition, the site maintains personalized account information that records what courses and tracks a professional has completed.
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Lenses for ASTIGMATISM. Accelerated Stabilization Design offers stability, regardless of head position or gaze, and harnesses positive lid interaction to stabilize the lens quickly. Could you satisfy more astigmatic
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Abstract:
Latest CLEK Study Findings
The Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Keratoconus (CLEK) Study, an eight-year, multi-center, natural history study of 1209 patients with keratoconus, has published its latest
findings. Researchers report that at study entry, 65% of participants wore GP contact lenses and 14% reported a family history of the disease. Subjects exhibited a seven-year decrease in high- and low-contrast,
best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), with 19% demonstrating decreases of 10 or more letters in high-contrast BCVA and 31% demonstrating decreases of 10 or more letters in low-contrast BCVA in at least one
eye.
Investigators say subjects exhibited an average eight-year increase in corneal curvature of 1.60D in the flat corneal meridian, with 24% demonstrating increases of 3.00D ore more. The eight-year
incidence of corneal scarring was 20%, with younger age, corneal staining, steeper baseline corneal curvature, contact lens wear and poorer low-contrast visual acuity predictive of corneal scarring. They further
report that data from the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire suggest that the effect of keratoconus on vision-specific quality-of-life is disproportionate to its low prevalence and clinical
severity.
They conclude that clinicians can begin to envision the course of keratoconus in their patients by determining whether factors predictive of disease progression are present.
Wagner H,
Barr JT, Zadnik K; the Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Keratoconus (CLEK) Study Group. Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Keratoconus (CLEK) Study: Methods and findings to date. Cont Lens Anterior
Eye. 2007 May 2;[Epub ahead of print].
Editor's Commentary:
Learning about Keratoconus
This week’s abstract comes from a review article Dr. Heidi Wagner put together from our CLEK data.
What have we learned: Our hunch that younger patients may progress faster was
correct. These patients suffer from a poor visual quality-of-life and have ocular pain even if they don't wear contact lenses. And their low-contrast VA is far worse than their high-contrast VA, much more different
than a in normal patient.
If you have tips on improving comfort in your keratoconus patients, please let your fellow readers learn from your experience and send us your thoughts. And remember, we are planning
another Global Keratoconus Congress in Las Vegas next January.
Fitting Tip:
Monovision alternative
Everyone has probably had a handful of patients who can’t adjust to monovision. Recently, I have been taking those same, early presbyopes and fitting them with a single Biomedics EP
lens. For example, a patient presenting with -1.00D O.U. and +1.25D add would do well with a -1.00D EP in the dominant eye only, or failed monovision eye. This combination would likely not work as well in those
patients who desire better quality distance VA. However, in those cases, I would try a -0.50D EP in the "near or non-dominant" eye.
Troy W. Johnson, O.D.
Salem, Ill.
This month at http://www.siliconehydrogels.org, consider a strategy for using SiH lenses to increase the success of your practice;
investigate the potential for using SiH lenses in the treatment of dry-eye; review the recent research into silicone hydrogels (SiH) presented at the American Academy of Optometry, and learn how the SiH market
has evolved over the past seven years.
Report adverse contact lens reactions here: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/ or call (800) FDA-1088.
Access a
reporting form for complications you've seen that were a result of contact lenses dispensed without a valid prescription at the Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry's (ARBO's) Web
site: http://www.arbo.org/arbo.asp?dt=R&doc=Complications. Complete and send the form online or print it out and fax it to (866)
886-6164.
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