Contact Lenses

Before the new year gets too far along, let’s take a brief look at the happenings in the pages of Optometry Times during 2016.

Try these seven strategies to improve your keratoconus contact lens fitting and offer better outcomes to your patients.

Differentiate yourself in this era of heightened competition

Do more than hand patients a box-prescribe instead of recommend

Contact lens retail site Hubble launched last Tuesday, offering contact lens wearers daily disposable contact lenses at a lower price and planning to drive patients into OD offices for exams.

Stick to your usual prescribing habits is the advice given by contact lens experts in the wake of the recent recall of peroxide lens care system Peroxiclear by Bausch + Lomb.

Patient horror stories can happen at any time of the year, but late October makes these tales particularly chilling.

A day in the life of a female patient provides clues that can help

A companion bill to S. 2777 aims to hold online sellers of contact lenses accountable for deceptive or illegal sales tactics that may threaten patient health.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently brought together representatives from optometry and ophthalmology to discuss regulatory review of contact lenses and future medical devices to control the progression of myopia, primarily in children.

As a profession, we have seen the benefits of transitioning patients to contact lens modalities that are replaced frequently. Innovations in material technologies have allowed advanced designs, including greater oxygen permeability to provide a healthier, more comfortable wearing experience.

Contact lens wearers are dropping out for comfort and vision reasons. Contact lenses can be considered a significant cause of these symptoms if they contribute to an unstable tear film or trigger inflammatory reactions.

The recent news in our profession was an announced partnership between Opternative and 1-800-Contacts.1 With InstaRx powered by Opternative, customers can “stay home, eat some ice cream, and get a vision exam” according to the 1-800 Contacts website.

Keep your patients in safe and comfortable lens wear while on the road

Keep your patients in safe and comfortable lens wear while on the road

In order to properly care for our contact lens patients, we have to take responsibility for the changes that are occurring in the tear film under the lens.

Orthokeratology is a specialty type of contact lens fitting in which the patient wears correction overnight and is free from wearing visual correction during the day. By fitting the patient into a reverse geometry gas permeable lens, the practitioner can make controlled but temporary refractive changes to the cornea. It is a treatment that has been proven to be safe and effective in both children and adults with promising results in the area of controlling myopia progression.

Simple Contacts allows your patients to self report and self prescribe

Contact lenses are increasingly viewed as a commodity, not a medical device, especially in recent years with pressure through legislation from online retailers.

Contact lenses, communications, and knowing how to properly bill and code

Scleral lenses are indispensable in a specialty contact lens practice. The indications for scleral lens use are well established in the literature and range from visual rehabilitation of irregular corneas to severe ocular surface disease management.1-4 Many more uses may still be revealed.

Contact lens practitioners have a range of soft contact lens replacement modalities available-from daily disposable to reusable lenses with a two-week or monthly replacement schedule. Personality, lifestyle factors, and ocular health should all be taken into account when deciding which lens and which lens modality to prescribe.

From the first introduction on the cinematic screens for visual effects in 1950 to its mainstream use today for masking both natural iris pigment and ocular disfigurement, colored contact lenses are an important addition to your contact lens toolbox. Industry has made fitting this type of lens more appealing by offering improvements in color matching techniques and healthier materials compatible with commercially available inks and dyes.