AOA 2026: Solving the presbyopic astigmatism gap with Acuvue Oasys Max daily disposable lenses

Erin Rueff, OD, PhD, FAAO, presented Acuvue Oasys Max as a comprehensive daily disposable contact lens platform designed to address virtually any refractive error within a single brand family. The line includes spherical, toric, multifocal, and multifocal toric options, allowing practitioners to fit a wide range of patients—particularly those with complex needs such as combined astigmatism and presbyopia—without resorting to compromises like monovision or single-vision lenses with readers. This represents a significant advance for a cohort of patients who historically lacked a truly optimized daily disposable soft lens option.

A central theme is the shift from “making do” with workarounds to proactively offering a premium, tailored solution. Rueff encourages clinicians to revisit patients who have been in monovision for years and consider them prime candidates for Max. These individuals may perceive themselves as satisfied, but the lens provides an opportunity to “wow” them with improved vision, comfort, and overall visual experience. The emphasis is on elevating care rather than passively maintaining the status quo.

The discussion also explores the nuanced relationship between vision quality and perceived comfort. Many contact lens wearers report discomfort despite having healthy-appearing eyes. Rueff underscored that visual quality—glare, halos, stability of correction—can meaningfully influence how comfortable lenses feel. Max is positioned as unique because it integrates several technologies to address both physiological and perceptual aspects of comfort. These include tear-stable technology to support lubrication and hydration, and an OptiBlue light filter to reduce glare and halos, thereby improving subjective visual comfort.

For astigmatic patients, the toric Max lens incorporates a blink-stabilized, prism-free design that is less influenced by gravity and avoids prism in the optic zone. This is highlighted as critical for monocular astigmats—patients wearing a toric lens in only 1 eye—who constitute a substantial proportion of lens wearers. In multifocal designs, a pupil-optimized architecture aims to refine the multifocal visual experience. Collectively, these features are portrayed as synergistic, working together to deliver stable, consistent vision and enhanced comfort. Rueff concluded that Max represents the best current option for targeting both comfort and visual performance, especially in patients with astigmatism, presbyopia, or both.