CONTACT LENSES TODAY

August 25, 2002

Contact Lenses Today® is edited by Dr. Joseph T. Barr and the staff of Contact Lens Spectrum. This week CLToday® reaches 8,765 readers in 74 countries.

Lens-Makers Spar Over Patents for Colored Lenses
U.S. District Court for the Central District of Calif. has granted CIBA Vision’s motion for summary judgment of infringement in a lawsuit against CooperVision, Inc. The ruling affirms that CooperVision’s Frequency Colors contact lenses infringe the Jahnke patent, one of two patents that protect CIBA Vision’s FreshLook lenses. A trial scheduled for Oct. 15 will address the validity of the Jahnke patent, as well as issues of infringement and validity related to the second (Loshaek) patent.

Although disappointed with the ruling, says CooperVision, the company remains confident that it will ultimately prevail on its defense that the [Jahnke] patent is invalid.

Army Lays Down Law
If a good number of your patients are in the military, keep in mind that the U.S. Army recently announced restrictions on contact lenses. Army regulation prohibits soldiers from wearing tinted or colored contact lenses when in uniform; the only exception is for opaque lenses prescribed for eye injuries. Soldiers also aren’t authorized to wear clear lenses with designs that change the appearance of the iris.

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Uncovering Teenage Fitting Trends
How do you feel about fitting young teens with contact lenses? Do you have a personal comfort zone when it comes to minimum age? CIBA Vision polled 294 U.S. eyecare professionals and learned that 66% encourage patients ages 11 to 14 to think about wearing contact lenses. Just 12% encourage contact lens wear to patients younger than 10; 19% wait until patients are 15 to 17 years old, and 3% hold off until patients turn 18. Most of the practitioners polled prescribe daily disposable and 1- to 2-week replacement lenses for their younger patients.

Essilor Licenses Specialty Lenses
Essilor Contacts, a division of Essilor Laboratories of America, Inc., has signed a licensing agreement with Metro Optics, Dallas, for the right to manufacture and sell KomfortKone lenses for keratoconus and the reverse geometry OrthoFocus design.

Abstract: Effects of a Lubricant in CL Solution
Investigators looked at physical properties and tear film function for a multipurpose contact lens solution containing the ocular lubricant hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC). They evaluated 35 hydrogel contact lens wearers using solutions with and without HPMC. They found solutions containing HPMC produced a thicker, longer-lasting layer of fluid on the hydrogel lens, leading to improvements in tear function in contact lens wearers. "In vitro and in vivo effects of a lubricant in a contact lens solution." Thai LC, Tomlinson A, Simmons PA, Department of Vision Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt 2002 Jul;22(4):319-29.

Editor's Commentary: Continuous Wear Summit Discusses Leading-Edge Research
Nearly 85 invited leaders from around the world attended the Continuous Wear Contact Lenses for the New Millennium Symposium last weekend in San Diego. The group discussed everything from tear-film structure and function to aberration-reducing lens designs. Some questions being answered include: Do higher Dk lenses bind less to the cornea? Are smoking, swimming and previously inflamed or infected red eyes risk factors that would contraindicate contact lenses for continuous wear? Probably yes on both counts.

The meeting was sponsored by CIBA Vision and supported by members of the Section on Cornea and Contact Lenses of the American Academy of Optometry and the Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmologists (CLAO). Detailed papers will appear in the CLAO Journal.

Fitting Tip: Topography for Corneal Reshaping
Corneal topography taken the morning after overnight contact lens corneal reshaping is crucial to success. If you see a central island where the central apical values are as steep as the baseline central values, then the lens is too deep. If the central values are flatter than the original central apical values and the map is centered, then keep using the lens and give it more time. If the map is faulty (a "rogue map") due to poor tear film or epithelial distortion, repeat the topography and resolve any corneal staining before proceeding.
--John Mountford, O.D., Australia

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