Jennifer A. Webb

Soft contact lenses have become America's predominant form of contact lens vision correction and radically changed the way patients expect to manage their vision care.

Optometrists here plan to ramp up efforts this fall to secure legislators' support for a bill that would allow them to perform minor surgical techniques and laser procedures, and administer oral glaucoma medications.

Optometrists are celebrating the passage of a new Kentucky law giving them the ability to perform laser surgery and employ a wider range of treatment options for patients throughout the state.

Besifloxacin ophthalmic suspension 0.6% (Besivance, Bausch & Lomb) was approved recently by the FDA for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis. Besifloxacin suspension is able to fight bacteria that are growing resistant to older anti-infectives.

A new device (TearLab Osmolarity System, TearLab Corp.) that measures the osmolarity of tears to aid in the diagnosis of dry eye disease has been given FDA 501(k) clearance and also has received a silver 2009 Medical Design Excellence Award (MDEA).