Contact Lenses

With Halloween just around the corner, your patients may be looking for something to enhance their costumes, but if they purchase illegal cosmetic contact lenses, they can expect problems long after trick-or-treat.

Alcon recently began a national television, online, and print media campaign in support of Air Optix Colors prescription contact lenses.

A recent survey from Bausch + Lomb from that nearly half of women over the age of 40 are embarrassed or annoyed when reaching for reading glasses.

My grandfather was one of the first instructors in the 100-year old College of Optometry at The Ohio State University. I never knew him; he died when I was 2. He had an optometry practice in my home town. My father was an optician-he made spectacles and managed a lab. So I knew the optometric field as early as I can remember.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a contact lens microbiology workshop in early September as a follow-up to its May meeting to discuss updating recommendations for contact lens and lens care guidance documents. The goal is safer contact lens wear for patients.

CooperVision announced during Vision Expo West that the unilateral pricing policy (UPP) on Sauflon clariti contact lenses will be upheld. CooperVision completed its acquisition of Sauflon Pharmaceuticals Limited in August 2014.

Go down the eye care aisle at your local pharmacy or big box retailer and take a look at the contact lens care solutions. The choices can seem quite daunting to patients who have been given no recommendations before heading to the store.

During the Global Contact Lens Forum at Vision Expo West, Scot Morris, OD, FAAO, provided current information about the status of contact lenses in the United States.

During the Global Contact Lens Forum at Vision Expo West, Jeff Walline, OD, PhD, FAAO, discussed the predicted demise of gas permeable contact lenses.

During the Global Contact Lens Forum at Vision Expo West, Jeffrey Sonsino, OD, FAAO, shared tips on how to establish a specialty contact lens practice.

The deadline for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Unique Device Identification (UDI) rule has been extended for an additional year for some medical device manufacturers.

S. Barry Eiden, OD, FAAO, talks about what you can expect from the Global Contact Lens Forum to be held from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 17, 2014 in Las Vegas during Vision Expo West.

Michigan College of Optometry’s Vision Research Institute recently announced the availability the Scleral Lens Fit Scales, a downloadable document was created by the VRI for educational purposes and is designed to assist clinicians in practice.

The Senate Judiciary Committee's nine-member antitrust panel recently met to consider the decisions by Alcon, Bausch + Lomb, and Johnson & Johnson to put in place minimum sale prices for some of their products.

Every optometrist who fits contact lenses knows what a problem many patients have with contact lens discomfort. It is likewise a significant clinical challenge.

Do you know what consumer media is telling your patients about buying glasses and contact lenses?

The Cooper Companies, Inc. recently completed its acquisition of Sauflon Pharmaceuticals Limited in a transaction valued at approximately $1.2 billion, expanding CooperVision’s range of contact lens offerings.

The general feeling is that the eyeglass patient is much more profitable to a practice then the contact lens patient. Let’s look at this misconception in some detail.

We would also like to think that our beloved patients are taking that instruction to heart: washing their hands, rubbing and rinsing their lenses, cleaning and replacing their cases, and never, ever topping off. But the harsh reality is that overall compliance is relatively poor. Research has uncovered the astonishing apathetic behaviors of patients time and time again, but we have yet to use that information to change future behavior. A recent study may help shed some light on how to elicit better habits from our contact lens wearers.

CooperVision has launched an app that will help patients find more information on the right contact lenses for them, find an optometrist, and remind them when it’s time to replace their lenses.

A recent study published in Optometry and Vision Science supported the biocompatibility of contact lenses coated with an antimicrobial peptide, which could help lower the risk of contact lens-related infections.

Dr. Mile Brujic and Dr. Jason Miller debate the need for contact lens follow-ups.

A healthy ocular surface is critical for the visual acuity and comfort of soft contact lenses. Despite this, treating dry eye is often an afterthought. Instead, contact lens practitioners may make multiple changes to the lens material, lens modality, and/or cleaning solution in an attempt to improve comfortable wear time and avoid dropout.

This morning, I saw a patient who came to our office complaining of discomfort, itching, and irritated eyes. She said she had done nothing different with her two-week soft contact lenses over the past three years. Her lenses were fogging up and would dry out after a few hours of wear. Upon examination, slit lamp biomicroscopy showed Grade 3 giant papillary conjunctivitis (GPC) in both eyes. Her lenses were moving excessively. Naturally, I assumed that this patient was non-compliant in her lens care. Doctors have been dealing with compliance issues with contact lenses since they were invented.

Alcon has released a compliance kit will help eyecare professionals educate their patients on how to take care of their contact lenses while also providing consumers with a clear doctor recommendation.

A recent report from BCC Research, a publisher of technology market research reports, projects the contact lens market to grow from $18.9 billion in 2013 to $20.1 billion by 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 1.2 percent over the five-year period.

During the American Optometric Association’s Optometry’s Meeting, Mile Brujic, OD, moderated a debate on contact lenses among Melissa Barnett, OD, FAAO, David Kading, OD, FAAO, and Jack Schaeffer, OD, FAAO. Topics ranged from lenses from lens discomfort to mitigation of microbial keratitis to the use of daily disposable lenses.

Alcon announced the launch of its Air Optix Colors silicone hydrogel color contact lenses at the American Optometric Association’s Optometry’s Meeting.

Baush + Lomb announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued marketing clearance for Biotrue ONEday for Presbyopia (nesofilcon A) soft (hydrophilic) daily disposable multifocal contact lenses at the American Optometric Association’s Optometry’s Meeting.

Tom Quinn, OD, FAAO, and Shalu Pal, OD, FAAO, discussed the contact lens market at the American Optometric Association’s Optometry’s Meeting.