CONTACT LENSES TODAY

September 28, 2003

Contact Lenses Today® is edited by Dr. Joseph T. Barr and the staff of Contact Lens Spectrum. This week CLToday® reaches nearly 10,000 readers in 74 countries.

Akerman Rejoins CIBA
Dwight Akerman, OD, FAAO, recently left his position as head of global medical marketing for Novartis Ophthalmics, based in Switzerland, to return to CIBA Vision. Dr. Akerman fills the newly created position of director of professional marketing for North America. Prior to his position with Novartis, Dr. Akerman was the global head of professional services for CIBA Vision.

Vistakon Files Against CIBA for New Technology
Vistakon has filed for a declaratory judgement against CIBA Vision regarding Vistakon's new Acuvue Advance contact lens, which is currently awaiting FDA clearance.
Says Vistakon spokesperson Marc Monseau, "We believe that when launched, this lens will set a new standard by offering the comfort people expect from Acuvue 2 in a unique formulation that allows for greater oxygen permeability." Vistakon says that it is confident that the technology behind its Acuvue Advance contact lens falls outside the scope of CIBA's patents and has asked the Court to affirm that Acuvue Advance will not infringe CIBA Vision's patent portfolio by seeking a declaratory judgement.

According to Scott Meece, CIBA Vision vice president and general counsel, Vistakon's actions are clearly a litigation tactic intended to publicize its belated plans to enter the highly successful silicone hydrogel contact lens market. He said, "It's unfortunate that Vistakon elected to prematurely engage in litigation, rather than fully exploring a reasonable business resolution to the infringement of our patents.

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Get Your CE Online
Boucher Communications, Inc. (BCI) and International Vision Expo launched a joint online continuing education program during the recent conference in Las Vegas. Beginning this fall, the BCI site http://www.VisionCareCE.com will include exclusive COPE- and ABO-approved distance learning courses provided by Vision Expo educators. The site allows optometrists and opticians to take the courses, get test results and, in most cases, instantly print a certificate of credit.

Are You an Informed OD?
Kenneth A. Lebow, OD, FAAO, and other clinicians bridge the gap between clinical research findings and clinical applications in the electronic newsletter Informed OD, sponsored by Alcon Laboratories. Informed OD is targeted at optometrists and comes out six times each year. Upcoming issues will address the latest applications in contact lens care, allergy, dry eye, refractive, anti-infectives and glaucoma. To sign up just visit http://www.informedod.com.

Abstract: Examining the Intrapalpebral Migration of CLs
Researchers from Duke University Eye Center reviewed the literature on a case of an eyelid mass that was found to be a GP lens that had migrated into the intrapalpebral tissue. The patient in this case had a mass on the left upper lid three years after she stopped wearing GP lenses. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a curvilinear signal in the area of the mass. While exploring the mass surgically, the researchers found a GP contact lens entrapped within a fibrous capsule located within the eyelid tissue. The researchers concluded that intrapalpebral contact lens should be in the differential diagnosis of upper eyelid mass in patients who have a history of contact lens wear and that MRI may be a useful modality for imaging these GP lenses.
Hammons, M; Gayre, G; Hammons, D; Dutton, J. Intrapalpebral Migration of a Rigid Gas Permeable Contact Lens Resulting in an Eyelid Mass. Ophthalmology. 2003 Sep;110(9):1781-3.

Editor's Commentary: Patent Laws Are Important
Many contact lens practitioners object to contact lens manufacturers' legal maneuvers and patent activities that prevent them from obtaining all the contact lens options they would like to have to treat their patients. Only recently has this had significant impact on our field. We are in a new phase of the maturity of the contact lens field. Having a product for your patient and then not having it when it is successful is a problem for the practitioner and for the patient. Yet without patent laws there is less incentive to develop the great new technology we have. This phase of consolidation and maturing of our field will be a little uncomfortable as we make progress.

Fitting Tip: Pupil or Dark Iris?
Several months ago a practitioner gave some tips on evaluating pupils. Dark irides can prove difficult, but if you're presbyopic and looking through your bifocal add, pupil testing is a pain in the neck -- not to mention the patient has to look up your nose! I use my direct ophthalmoscope to check pupils. I position myself on the midline 20 to 30 inches from the patient, look through the ophthalmoscope, focus to the plane of the iris and look at the red reflex and the iris. There is never a problem differentiating the pupil from the dark iris. I check direct and consensual response and then do the swinging flashlight test. I then have the patient look at the letters at the top of my ophthalmoscope then back to the eye chart, checking for pupil constriction with accommodation. At the same time, I note whether I see any media opacities that may interfere with refraction.
--Stephen P. Byrnes, OD, FAAO
Londonderry, N.H.

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