What happened in optometry this week: November 4 - November 8
Catch up on what happened in optometry during the week of November 4-November 8.
Catch up with what Optometry Times shared this week:
AAOpt 2024: Alcon launches first ever one-week replacement contact lens, PRECISION7
By Jordana Joy, Associate Editor
Alcon has announced the launch of PRECISION7, a one-week replacement contact lens, in the US.1 The lens, which utilizes a 7-day ACTIV-FLO System that provides 16 hours of comfort and clear vision, is the only one-week replacement lens on the market, according to a news release.
Improving dry eye comfort and vision with lipid-containing lubricating drops
By Bridgitte Shen Lee, OD, FAAO, FBCLA, FEAOO, and Emily Kaiser Maharjan, Assistant Managing Editor
Dry eye disease is a complex and multifactorial condition that can significantly impact a patient's quality of life. While many lubricating eye drops are available to help manage dry eye symptoms, not all formulations are created equal. A recent study presented by Bridgitte Shen Lee, OD, FAAO, FBCLA, FEAOO, at the Tear Film and Ocular Surface meeting in Venice, Italy, sheds light on the potential benefits of a novel lipid-containing lubricating eye drop.
In her poster presentation, Shen Lee compared the performance of this new lipid-containing drop to an existing non-lipid lubricating eye drop. The primary endpoint of the study was to establish noninferiority of the lipid-containing formulation in terms of overall comfort, as measured by a visual analog scale (VAS) score. Remarkably, the results showed that the lipid-containing drop not only met the noninferiority criteria, but also demonstrated statistically significant improvements in visual quality. "Prescribing a lipid-containing lubricating eye drop for those patients who suffer from dry eye symptoms, especially those with an evaporative component, is much better for these patients in terms of both comfort improvement and quality improvement," explained Shen Lee.
Atropine during childhood associated with thicker choroid during adulthood, study finds
By Lynda Charters
A new study suggested that exposure to atropine during childhood results in a thicker choroid in adulthood. Specifically, treatment with atropine for between 2 to 4 years during childhood was associated with increased choroidal thickness of 20 to 40 μm in adulthood 10 to 20 years later, after adjusting for age, sex, and axial length,1 reported first author Yong Li, MD, who is from the Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore, Singapore, and Duke-NUS Medical School, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
AAOpt 2024: What's new in ocular drug delivery?
By Justin Schweitzer, OD, FAAO, and Emily Kaiser Maharjan, Assistant Managing Editor
Optometrists are constantly seeking new and innovative ways to better serve patients. One area that has seen significant advancements in recent years is ocular drug delivery. At the upcoming 2024 American Academy of Optometry meeting in Indianapolis, Justin Schweitzer, OD, FAAO, and Walter Whitley, OD, MBA, FAAO, will be presenting a 50-minute session that delves into the latest developments in this critical field.
AAOpt 2024: Investigating the performance of a 30-day toric lens for patients with heavy digital device use
By Andrew D. Pucker, OD, PhD, FAAO, FSLS, FBCLA, and Emily Kaiser Maharjan, Assistant Managing Editor
In today's world, where many patients are spending over eight hours a day in front of digital screens, finding contact lenses that cater to these needs is increasingly important. A recent study presented at the 2024 American Academy of Optometry meeting by Andrew Pucker, Executive Director of Clinical and Medical Science at Lexitas Pharma Services, provides promising insights into how modern contact lenses, like the Total30 toric lenses (Alcon), perform for heavy digital device users.
The study focused on existing contact lens wearers with astigmatism and assessed their experience using the Total30 lens over the course of one month. The goal was to determine how these lenses perform under the conditions of extensive screen use—a common scenario for many patients today.
