CONTACT LENSES TODAY

October 6, 2002

Contact Lenses Today® is edited by Dr. Joseph T. Barr and the staff of Contact Lens Spectrum. This week CLToday® reaches 8,899 readers in 74 countries.

New Surcharge for Reverse Geometry Lenses
As of the end of this month (Oct. 31), Polymer Technology will collect a $2 surcharge on every Wave reverse geometry lens. The company is collecting the fee as a royalty for patent holders of certain reverse geometry lens designs. To account for the fee, Polymer requires from all U.S. labs that all reverse geometry lenses for ortho-k are made in Boston XO or Boston Equalens II materials in red or yellow tints.

CLs Increase Self Confidence
A study on eyewear and attractiveness was recently conducted by University of Warwick psychology researcher Dr. June McNicholas. She took 38 male and female students between the ages of 18 and 25 and split them up into three groups: those wearing their usual form of eye correction; those switching from contact lenses to glasses; and those switching from glasses to contact lenses. The research team took the volunteers to a nightclub and then asked them to report their experiences.

Eighty-five percent of volunteers who had switched to contact lenses from glasses reported increased self-confidence while not one of those who had switched to glasses said the same. On the contrary, 75 percent of volunteers switching to glasses complained of feeling less confident.

CIBA and Cooper Reach Agreement
CIBA Vision has reached a settlement agreement terminating its patent infringement lawsuits pending against CooperVision worldwide. The suit claimed that Frequency Colors infringe the color technology protected by the Jahnke and Loshaek patents owned by Wesley Jessen. CIBA had additional litigation pending against CooperVision in the United Kingdom, Germany and France that included the Knapp patents. CIBA has agreed to license these and other color contact lens patents to CooperVision in return for a royalty and a cross-license of some of CooperVision's intellectual property rights.

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CL Made From Human Tissue
EyeVU has successfully manufactured its first amniotic membrane contact lens (AMCL) and is now set to take it through the FDA approval process. EyeVU Co-founder Dr. Ming Wang designed the lens as a way to stop corneal scarring that can lead to blindness. The amniotic membranes used to make the AMCLs come from human placentas obtained immediately following elective cesarean sections at the end of a normal gestation period. The target market (once the AMCL comes to market) will be surgical hospitals. The selling point is ease of use and the relatively cheap cost of the lens procedure compared to restorative transplants.

CooperVision Lenses to Sell in Japan
The Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare has cleared Rohto, the Cooper Companies, Inc.'s Japanese marketing partner, to market CooperVision, Inc.'s disposable spherical, aspheric and toric contact lenses made from methafilcon A. Rohto will market CooperVision's lenses in Japan under the Rohto i.Q brand name. CooperVision plans to ship the lenses to Rohto during it's first fiscal quarter, which ends on January 31, 2003, and Rohto will begin selling the lenses after that. CooperVision will receive manufacturing profit from the products it sells to Rohto.

Editor's Commentary: Royalties Not Such a Bad Thing
The royalties being charged for corneal refractive therapy and reverse geometry orthokeratology lenses are interesting to me for two reasons. One, typically, these payments are not even mentioned by the licensee and manufacturer. Two, they are minimal in the grand scheme of things. They do, however, pay tribute to the inventors -- Siviglia, Stoyan, El Hage and Reim. Some receive royalties from Paragon Vision Sciences and some from Polymer Technology Corporation and Bausch & Lomb.

Fitting Tip: Practice Revelations
Modified from Dean (Clements) and Bob's Laws of Contact Lenses (with apologies to Jim Tannehil)
a. Fish we have caught and other conquests, along with bifocal contact lens success rates are routinely lied about.

b. Careful measurement and a scientifically rigorous design still do not succeed like plain dumb luck.

c. Given the choice, patients who pay the least complain the most.

Abstract: Silicone Hydrogel Results
Typical hypoxic complications associated with overnight and extended wear do not occur with the continuous wear of silicone hydrogel lenses. However, some inflammatory conditions do occur, such as contact lens papillary conjunctivitis (CLPC), contact lens induced acute red eye (CLARE), contact lens peripheral ulcers (CLPUs) and superior epithelial arcuate lesions (SEALs). Dumbleton, K. Adverse Events with Silicone Hydrogel Continuous Wear (Review), Contact lens & Anterior Eye; 25:137-146 (2002).

Editor's Note:
CLPC is easily resolved with wearing time control and daily disposable lenses as well as with some topical anti-inflammatory medications, CLARE may be self limiting too, however, cautious care may indicate appropriate antibiotics, CLPUs may be self limiting with lens removal, but cautious care indicates covering with appropriate antibiotics, SEALs may be controlled by base curve changes.

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