CONTACT LENSES TODAY

May 25, 2003

Contact Lenses Today® is edited by Dr. Joseph T. Barr and the staff of Contact Lens Spectrum. This week CLToday® reaches 9,433 readers in 74 countries.

New Ophthalmic Lens from J&J
The Spectacle Lens Group of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. has begun rolling out its new Definity progressive lenses. According to the company, the lens offers the least amount of unwanted astigmatism and the widest intermediate zone of any progressive lens on the market. Definity lenses are available with Johnson & Johnson Vision Care's exclusive GemCoat Multicoating System, which uses a nine-layer, anti-reflective coating per lens side to reduce and enhance scratch resistance. They also divide the progressive add power by placing portions on both the front and back surfaces. For more information on this lens or on The Specatcle Lens Group, call (800) 920-2021.

CLMA Develops New Committee
The Contact Lens Manufacturers Association (CLMA) recently announced its new Soft Lens Manufacturing and Distribution Committee, which is designed to aid custom contact lens manufacturers to integrate either manufacturing or distribution of custom soft lenses into their businesses. According to the CLMA, it created the new committee as a resource to help licensed eyecare professionals, many of whom rely on the consultative ability of their contact lens laboratory. Visit http://www.clma.net for more information.

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An Invitation to Australia
The Contact Lens Society of Australia and the New Zealand Society of Contact Lens Practitioners will provide meeting information about the 11th International Contact Lens Congress to those who send their name, address and e-mail address to Secretary: Congress Organising Committee, The Contact Lens Society of Australia, Level 1, 5 Hunter Street, Sydney New 2000 Australia or e-mail the information to m.story@crcert.unsw.edu.au. The Congress will be held March 14-19, 2004 and will include trade exhibition displays and papers and posters.

Boston Foundation for Sight Seeks Director
The nonprofit organization that treats complicated corneal cases with scleral lenses is seeking a Director of Practitioner Training. This person will direct the Johnson & Johnson Gift of Sight Practitioner Training Program. Practitioners will be trained in tertiary eyecare clinics nationally and internationally to fit the Boston Scleral Lens and other sight-restoritive contact lenses. For more information see http://www.Bostonsight.org or contact Perry Rosenthal, M.D., Boston Foundation for Sight, 1244 Boylston Street, Ste. 202, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. (617) 735-8698.

Abstract: Can You Predict Contact Lens Success?
Using the Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scales, 418 adult volunteers who had worn contact lenses were surveyed. Of this group, 180 had discontinued contact lens wear. Males are more likely to discontinue. Competence and self-esteem subscales may be associated with continued contact lens wear.
Jutai, J; Day, H; Woolrich, W; and Strong, G. The Predictability of Retention and Discontinuation of Contact Lenses. Optometry 2003 74(5):299-308.

Editor's Commentary: CLs and the Great Outdoors
Our two comments below regarding last week's fitting tip suggesting daily disposable lenses for outdoor types show just how mainstream single-use daily disposable and continuous wear lenses have become. Optionally, patients can take spare pairs of planned replacement or disposable specialty lenses for situations when they are in the great outdoors. They can remove them in the wild, place them in a good disinfection solution in a clean case and then do rigorous disinfection when they return home.

Fitting Tip: Responses to Last Week's Tip
I have one thing to add to the fitting tip by Dr. Rich Ryan from the May 18, 2003 issue of CLToday. I agree with his tip on prescribing one-day contact lenses to patients who go camping and don't want to hassle with solution bottles. I go one step further and prescribe one-day contact lenses to most of my patients for full-time wear. I currently fit 70% to 80% of my clear spherical contact lens patients in one-day contact lenses. I have been doing this for about three years and my patients love it. Plus, compliance rates are much higher than for any other modality.
--John Chatelain, O.D., Houston, Texas

In response to Dr. Ryan's tip from last week: The restrooms in Washington state must be a far cry cleaner than those in California! For my "camping patients" I recommend continuous wear lenses so that "no lens" (not even a brand new one) has to experience the hostile mountain restroom environment. Seriously, Dr. Ryan's suggestion for "on demand" daily disposable wear is a great one for campers, waterskiers and the like.
--Jeffrey C. Krohn, O.D., F.A.A.O., Fresno, Calif.

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