Giving Thanks for Contact Lens Improvements

BY JOSEPH T. BARR, O.D., M.S., EDITOR
JAN. 1996

With Thanksgiving recently behind us and the holidays quickly approaching, this time of year makes me think about things that I'm thankful for.

• Thanks for good colleagues who act in the patient's best interest without bias and with great care.
• Thanks for those who serve our profession with continuing education lectures and advice and guidance to our students and residents.
• Thanks for the many organizations that provide contact lens education in all the professions.
• Thanks for the researchers and innovators of our past and present, from Wichterle to Wesley and others, who have had the vision to lead the way. You could not practice as well as you do, and we could not publish this journal without them.

Thanks for the companies that continue to take the risk to develop product line extensions and new products. Sure, you may say, they're not the exact products we hope for, but they're as close as possible within the scientific and regulatory constraints that exist. Sure there are bribes, poor service, marketing and sales plans that seem to originate in a vacuum, self-interested consultants, third-party and government intervention into health care, and territorial spats. Yet, nearly all are working for the patient's and customer's best interest. I'm thankful that we figure out creative ways to overcome these weaknesses, allowing us to continue to move forward.

This past year saw:

• simpler solutions that are still effective;
• lenses that are more efficient to fit, including new disposable and toric lenses;
• new bifocals with better manufacturing processes for the baby boomers who need contact lenses;
• teenagers who are as excited about their new contact lenses as I was with my new PMMAs a few decades ago;
• the survival of contact lenses despite improved and approved refractive surgery; and
• the development and approval of new drugs for inflammation and for glaucoma.

Watch for our January issue and other future issues for details on these events.

Oh yes, of course, there's my family, my friends, my profession and my job (especially this one). For all of this, I am thankful.

Enjoy your holidays and thanks from all of us at Contact Lens Spectrum for motivating us to keep serving you. CLS