CONTACT LENSES TODAY

October 5, 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.

Silicone CLs a Hot Topic
A number of studies designed to establish the incidence and relative risk of microbial keratitis with silicone hydrogel lens wear and to determine the associated risk factors are in progress throughout the world.
- A UK study is being mounted to determine the relative risk of microbial keratitis with silicone hydrogels compared to other lens types and modes of wear. Over a period of two years researchers will conduct a case-control study at Moorfields Eye Hospital casualty department with hospital- and population-based controls.
- Another population-based study is underway in Australia and New Zealand to determine the incidence of microbial keratitis with all lens types and modalities. Researchers will determine the number of cases of infection through active surveillance of all ophthalmologists and optometrists over 12 months. For more information, visit http://www.siliconehydrogels.org

Inhaled Steroids Raise Cataract Risk
In the most recent issue of the British Journal of Ophthalmology (October 2003), researchers reported that people who use steroid inhalers to treat asthma may be increasing their odds of developing cataracts. The researchers studied 15,479 patients who had cataracts and 15,479 patients who didn't have cataracts. They then compared past and current inhaler use between the two groups. Any exposure to inhaled steroids raised the risk of cataract by 58% but after accounting for other factors that may have had an affect, the risk was only increased by 10%. Interestingly, low doses didn't raise the risk but high doses did by up to 69%. The risk rose the longer the patients had been treated with steroid inhalers.

Opti-Free Express MPDS is proven to be compatible with Silicone Hydrogel Lenses. Silicone hydrogel lenses have unique surface and matrix properties unlike other soft lenses. In a recent independent study with 50 lens wearers, Opti-Free Express was shown to be compatible with silicone hydrogel lenses worn on a daily wear basis.* (http://www.optifree.com)
*Reference: Jones, L; MacDougall, N; Sorbara, LG. Asymptomatic Corneal Staining Associated with the Use of Balafilcon Silicone-Hydrogel Contact Lenses Disinfected With a Polyaminopropyl Biguanide-Preserved Care Regimen. Optom Vis Sci 2003 Dec; 79 (12):753-61.
--ADVERTISING

Night & Day Approved for Therapeutic Use
Now that the FDA has approved CIBA Vision's Focus Night & Day lenses for therapeutic use, the company has made the lenses available in the United States and Canada in plano for use by eyecare professionals as a bandage for protecting the cornea and relieving corneal pain in the treatment of acute or chronic ocular pathologies and following eye surgery. Practitioners can also use the lenses, which CIBA says allow the supply of up to six times more oxygen to the eye than ordinary contact lenses, in full lens power range (+6.00D to -10.00D in two base curves) in therapeutic applications that require vision correction.

Celebrate World Sight Day
The joint global initiative of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and World Health Organization (VISION 2020: The Right to Sight) has coordinated World Sight Day, which is held annually on the second Thursday of October and focuses on the problem of global blindness. World Sight Day involves the active participation of UN agencies, governments, eyecare organization, health professionals, philanthropic insitutions and individuals working together in a global partnership to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. To find out how to participate on a local level, visit http://www.v2020.org/html/sight.html.

Abstract: Making a Connection Between Dry Eye and Omega-3
Investigators from the Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, and the Schepens Eye Research Institute recently presented the results of their study, which demonstrates that Omega-3 oils found in flaxseed and fish decreased the risk of developing dry eye syndrome. The study participants (32,470 female health professionals between the ages of 45 and 84) provided information on diet and whether they had been diagnosed with dry eye. After analyzing the data the investigators confirmed a significant association between low Omega-3 intake and dry eye.

Trivedi, K.A.; Dana, M.R.; Gilbard, J.P.; Buring, J.E.; and Schaumberg, D.A. Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acid Intake and Risk of Clinically Diagnosed Dry Eye. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 2003: May (Suppl):33.

Editor's Commentary: Another Look at Prescription Verification
A bill that passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection would require the release of a contact lens prescription after the prescriber completes a contact lens fitting and verification of any request for a prescription "as directed by any person designated to act on behalf of the patient . . . by electronic or other means." You couldn't require purchase of lenses from you, charge for the prescription itself or require the patient to sign a waiver that you didn't have to release a contact lens prescription. You would have eight business hours to verify a prescripton request. State law would define the expiration or in the absence of a state law no less than one year would be the expiration date unless there is a documented ocular health reason to make the expiration shorter. Sellers may not alter the prescription and may not sell lenses if the prescriber says a prescription is invalid with the force of FTC enforcement.

Certainly many prescribers will be concerned about these time limits and the promotion that will surround this proposed law.Why not just require positive verification and forget about the time constraint and act responsibly like pharmacy and medicine? But inevitably, a law will go into effect.

Fitting Tip: Perfecting the Process or Trial Fitting
When I place disposable trial lenses on the patient's eyes, I'll use two different types. This will work because the corneas are usually similar and what fits the right will fit the left. To remember which lens I put on which eye, I always put the flatter, larger lens on the right eye. So if I have the lenses 8.7/14.3, it goes on the right, while the 8.6/14.0 goes on the left. If the base curves are the same, then the larger goes on the right.
--Paul Clark, OD
Kelowna, BC, Canada

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