editor's perspective

A Look Ahead for Contact Lenses

BY JOSEPH T. BARR, OD, MS, EDITOR
December 1999

This will be my last editorial for this publication in a year with a nine in it. But nostalgia is not the topic, because we are poised for even better years ahead in the contact lens field, at least from the patients' and manufacturers' point of view. As for the practitioner, well, that depends on (patients' best interests not withstanding), whether contact lens care continues to be profitable. Of course, the vast increasing array of patients who need contact lenses for irregular astigmatism will be well cared for.

Wouldn't it be ironic if hundreds of thousands of refractive surgery patients end up needing contact lenses in the future, only realizing that they should have worn them in the first place?

Better materials are here and on the horizon, specifically the long-awaited and now available silicone-hydrogels. Sure, they're not being worn by large numbers of patients at this time, but they will improve in all aspects over the next few years due to further advancements in material, design, surface chemistry, marketing and management developments. This will make extended wear more acceptable for the vast number of our patients who prefer this modality over refractive surgery. I'm not saying today's silicone-hydrogel lenses are bad, in fact, they've gotten much better. Despite claims of no deposits and no physiological response, there was tremendous skepticism about early soft lenses just like there was about the early disposable soft contact lenses, and look how much better and how well accepted they are today.

Soft torics and bifocal contact lenses are better and will get better, primarily due to advancements in manufacturing. You can be sure there will be one-day disposable and extended wear specialty lenses and that we will continue to progress in preventing and treating corneal and other contact lens complications. You can also be sure that contact lens patient and practice management will evolve. There should be low cost, high volume, reproducible, quality, successful RGPs available in the next century for same-day dispensing from inventory. This could provide a nice challenge to soft toric contact lenses for the correction of astigmatism and for young myopes.

Here are some keys to these likelihoods becoming realities: 1) Manufacturers continue to profit from contact lens sales and thus, conduct further research and development; 2) Contact lens education continues to be an important element of ophthalmic professionals' training; and 3) Contact lens practitioners see lens care as profitable.

I know from my experience in the 1900s what will allow us and our patients to benefit from contact lenses in the year 2000 and beyond. More than the Internet, a good contact lens book or a high-priced education, we need good mentors. Bond with a good mentor or two if you want to succeed in the next century, because you can be sure that technology will provide you with the tools you'll need to continue building a profitable contact lens practice.