Have you ever noticed that manufacturers like to "launch" new or upgraded products at major meetings? This year has been no exception. In a way, it would be great if we saw new product launches by many companies at these meetings. Product research and development is certainly a costly and challenging to industry, but ultimately benefits our practices and our patients.

Alcon announced the launch of its new contact lens solution, Opti-Free PureMoist Multi-Purpose Disinfecting Solution (MPDS) in the United States. Opti-Free PureMoist MPDS contains the wetting agent HydraGlyde Moisture Matrix [EOBO-poly (oxyethylene)-poly (oxybutylene)], which demonstrates the ability to provide 16 hours of lens wettability, according to the company.

Per Alcon, HydraGlyde Moisture Matrix embeds itself on and within the lens surface. This environment and the solution's ability to remove protein deposits and reduce lipid deposition, facilitates moisture and comfort from insertion to removal. The company further states that the HydraGlyde Moisture Matrix, a scientifically advanced proprietary synthetic block copolymer, reduces surface and bulk hydrophobicity and improves the hydrophilic properties of silicone hydrogel lenses. This wetting agent also has an extremely high affinity for the hydrophobic areas of all soft contact lenses that are not wetted by the tear film. This affinity for hydrophic sites allows for the reduction of the deposition of lipid deposits, a problem associated with certain silicone hydrogel lenses.

Opti-Free PureMoist MPDS also continues to maintain the strong antimicrobial efficacy associated with its dual disinfectant system, Polyquad and Aldox, with EDTA (edetate disodium, a chelating agent that helps in the disinfection process), improving overall activity against microorganisms, according to Alcon.

For more information, visit www.optifreepuremoist.com.

CooperVision, Inc. announced the U.S. launch of the Biofinity Multifocal at the AOA conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Biofinity Multifocal, which combines the Biofinity Asphere and Toric lens material with the company's Balanced Progressive Technology, is the latest addition to the Biofinity family of monthly replacement contact lenses.

CooperVision also introduced a new streamlined fitting approach. Working closely with eye care practitioners, the company reports that it developed the new process to make it easier for eye care practitioners to fit their patients and offer lens wearers an ideal combination of ease, comfort and eye health. The company further validated the new fitting protocol through clinical testing with eye care practitioners.

Biofinity Multifocal is currently available in the U.S. and France in sphere powers of +6.00 D to -8.00 D and in four ADD powers (+1.00, +1.50, +2.00, +2.50). A D and N lens are available for each ADD power.

The product will be available in Canada later this fiscal year. CooperVision anticipates a rollout to more countries and regions in 2012.

Eye care practitioners can visit www.coopervision.com for product details.

Ocusoft, Inc. announced an exclusive multiyear agreement with Ardeo Health, LLC to distribute Nova23041, a novel dry eye therapy under license from Novagali Pharma S.A. of Evry, France.

Nova23041 will be marketed and distributed in the United States and Canada as Retaine MGD Ophthalmic Emulsion under a brand license from Ocusoft, Inc. Utilizing Novagali's Novasorb Technology—a proprietary cationic process of binding positively charged ions to the negatively charged ocular surface, Retaine MGD will prolong corneal contact time resulting in enhanced comfort, according to the company. As a preservative-free oil-in-water emulsion, the company states that Retaine MGD will target individuals suffering from Meibomian Gland Dysfunction, a component of Dry Eye Syndrome.

Vistakon, Division of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., announced the launch of Healthy Vision with Dr. Val Jones, a new radio program devoted to educating and improving the eye health of Americans.

The program host, Val Jones, MD, is CEO of Better Health, LLC, a network of popular health bloggers, and author of, "Dr. Val and the Voice of Reason," which won The Best New Medical Blog award in 2007. Healthy Vision with Dr. Val Jones seeks to close the gap between vision care attitudes and behaviors by providing consumers with timely and relevant information and helpful resources to help them manage eye health for themselves and their families. The program is supported by Acuvue Brand Contact Lenses.

On the inaugural show, Dr. Jones is joined by leading experts from around the country to take a close look at three areas vital to maintaining eye health and wellness.

• What's in an Eye Exam?
• Are You Contact Lens Compliant?
• Protecting Your Eyes from the Sun

Free podcasts of program can be found in the iTunes Store (for best results, search for the show by its complete title. You will find it in LifeMinute.TV Health), BlogTalk Radio (www.blogtalkradio.com/healthyvision) and on http://getbetterhealth.com/healthy-vision. A link to the show also can be found at. www.acuvue.com/healthyvision. The program may be listened to the show in its entirety or via individual segments.

The recent merger of Novartis and Alcon united Alcon, CIBA Vision and Novartis Ophthalmics into one eye care business. At this week's AOA, further information was provided on the progress of the integration of these entities.

Alcon US Vision Care umbrellas the company's Surgical, Pharmaceutical and Vision Care products. The Vision Care Product portfolio includes Air Optix, Dailies and FreshLook contact lenses, the Opti-Free and Clear Care lens care products, as well as ICAPS dietary supplements, Vitalux nutrient supplements and Ciprodex otic suspension. The company's dry eye, glaucoma, ocular allergy, anti-infection and anti-inflammation products fall under Pharmaceutical.

Jim Murphy was named Vice President and General Manager for the Alcon US Vision Care business. Murphy previously served as Vice President/General Manager of Alcon Consumer Products and U.S. Optometry. Murphy has global marketing responsibilities for Alcon's Lens Care product portfolio and Consumer and Pharmaceutical sales in the U.S. Optometry markets.

Francesco Balestrieri, formerly President of CIBA Vision's Americas Region, is now Area President Americas and General Manager, U.S. for Alcon. Richard Weisbarth, OD, FAAO, who formerly held several positions in Clinical Research and Professional Services for CIBA Vision, is now Head of Professional Affairs for Alcon Vision Care.

More information on the integration will be announced as it becomes available.

Bausch + Lomb (B+L) announced plans to help make daily disposable contact lenses more accessible to kids across the U.S., just in time for the start of the new school year. "The Daily Score" promotion will give eye care professionals the opportunity to offer patients instant savings on B+L SofLens daily disposable lenses enabling them to get the product at a cost of less than $1 per day.

"The Daily Score" builds upon a 2010 promotion that encouraged trial of SofLens daily disposables by motivating parents and kids to participate in the "Seeing Eye to Eye" contest together.

To learn more about "The Daily Score" promotion, please visit www.soflens.com.

Lens Den LLC, a supplier of modular, space saving trial contact lens storage systems for Optometry offices, has developed a new storage layout for small spherical blister packs, such as Acuvue's. This new design decreases the space needed for storage by 30% vs. Lens Den's previous design.

Please visit www.thelensden.com/product/sphere-green for more information, or contact Lens Den at 877.370.LENS.

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This photograph shows the left eye of a patient who presented with peripheral ulcerative keratitis (PUK). This 75-year-old white female complained of redness, photophobia, and mild pain in both of her eyes that had initiated two weeks prior to her examination with a corneal specialist. Systemically she was being treated for hypertension and asthma. Her entering visual acuity with glasses was 20/70 in her right eye and count fingers in her left eye. Slit lamp examination of both eyes showed superior corneal thinning, epithelial loss, neovascularization, and infiltration. The left eye, which also had central edema and mild anterior chamber flare, was considerably worse than the right eye. She was diagnosed with bilateral PUK and prescribed preservative-free artificial tears every two hours and erythromycin ointment q.i.d. Collagen plugs were inserted into both of her lower puncta. The patient was immediately referred to a rheumatologist to rule out systemic disease.

For more on this patient, see http://www.clspectrum.com/article.aspx?article=&loc=archive\2010\june\cls0610_a02.html.

We welcome photo submissions from our readers! It is easy to submit a photo for consideration for publishing in Contact Lenses Today. Simply visit http://www.cltoday.com/upload/upload.aspx to upload your image. Please include an explanation of the photo and your full name, degree or title and city/state/country.

Soft Toric Review

An excellent literature review of soft toric lens rotational stabilization methods (Edrington, 2011) reminded me how much better today's designs and materials are compared to when I was in school over 20 years ago. Back then, the main designs were either prism ballasted or dual thin-zones, and lens rotation was not always predictable or stable. Today, there are many innovative lenses that combine the best features of each stabilization method to create precise, sophisticated designs that control lens thickness differentials across the lens to result in minimal rotation and excellent stability.

It is also important to remember some concepts that help in the overall fitting process:

• Reorientation after manual rotation helps you evaluate dynamic stability.
• Inspection of eyelid anatomy can help predict or explain rotation.
• Lens flexure depends on the type of corneal astigmatism present and can be detected with corneal topography over the lens.
• Spherical and aspheric lenses do not "mask" astigmatism; toric lenses tend to give better visual performance.

Today's soft toric lenses make their fitting easy and highly successful.

Edrington TB. A literature review: The impact of rotational stabilization methods on toric soft contact lens performance. Contact Lens Ant Eye. 2011; 34(3): 104-110.

Keeping Up on Lens Care

We have all witnessed patients unintentionally putting un-neutralized peroxide in their eyes and the intense temporary keratitis this can cause. Fortunately these patients quickly recover with no consequences, except for the adverse experience which they hope never happens again. A new study looks at peroxide from a different perspective; the effect of residual H2O2 in neutralized H2O2-based contact lens-disinfecting solutions on morphology, viability, and barrier function of cultured human corneal-limbal epithelial cells.

Konynenbelt et al exposed monolayer and stratified cells to contact lens formulations containing 0.01% H2O2 for 10, 20, or 60 minutes. They determined that residual H2O2 in neutralized ophthalmic formulations had no effect on stratified cells in vitro. These data suggest that H2O2, when used appropriately, is a safe disinfectant to the corneal surface, even when small amounts of residual un-neutralized peroxide may persist.

Konynenbelt BJ, Mlnarik DS, Ubels JL. Effects of Peroxide-Based Contact Lens-Disinfecting Systems on Human Corneal Epithelial Cells In Vitro. Eye Contact Lens. 2011 May 23. [Epub ahead of print]

The introduction of contact lens multipurpose disinfection solution (MPDS) that can be used in conjunction with a "no-rub" regimen has simplified lens care requirements. Once adhered to a surface, microorganisms can become less susceptible to disinfection. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of various regimen steps on the efficacy of MPDS when used with silicone hydrogel and conventional lenses.

Commercially available MPDSs containing polyquad or polyhexamethylene biguanide were used in conjunction with two types of silicone hydrogel (lotrafilcon B and galyfilcon A) and one type of conventional soft contact lenses (etafilcon A). Challenge microorganisms included Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027, Serratia marcescens ATCC 13880, Fusarium solani ATCC 36031, Candida albicans ATCC 10231, or Acanthamoeba polyphaga Ros. The effect of regimen steps "rub and rinse," "rinse-only," or "no rub and no rinse" on the disinfection efficacy of test MPDSs was examined using the ISO 14729 Regimen Test procedure.

Overall, the greatest efficacy of MPDSs was observed when "rub and rinse" was performed before disinfection with each of the microorganisms tested, regardless of lens type. "No rub and no rinse" steps resulted in a greater load of microorganisms remaining on lenses compared with the other regimens (p < 0.05). When "rinse-only" was performed before disinfection, the MPDS containing polyquad performed generally better (p < 0.05) than MPDSs containing polyhexamethylene biguanide against bacteria. Significantly, less microorganisms were recovered from galyfilcon A than from other lenses (p < 0.05) when MPDSs were used with "rinse-only" step.

The researchers concluded that this study demonstrated that "rub and rinse" is the most effective regimen and should be recommended in conjunction with all multipurpose lens care solutions and all contact lens types, particularly with silicone hydrogel lenses.

H, Bandara MB, Vijay AK, Masoudi S, Wu D, Willcox MD. Importance of Rub and Rinse in Use of Multipurpose Contact Lens Solution. Optom Vis Sci. 2011 May 26. [Epub ahead of print]

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