NEWS spectrum

Global Perspectives at GSLS

The fourth Global Specialty Lens Symposium (GSLS) took place from Jan. 27 to 30, 2011 at the Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. More than 540 participants, including 390 eyecare professionals from 31 countries, plus more than 150 sponsors/exhibitors, attended the meeting.

The two-and-one-half day meeting, hosted by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) and with Contact Lens Spectrum as the exclusive media partner, was focused on the latest techniques and technologies for managing ocular conditions using today's specialty contact lenses. The meeting included information for vision care professionals in all disciplines, with both surgical and non-surgical options. Accredited for continuing education under COPE, NCLE, and JC-AHPO, the meeting offered 30 credit hours. In addition, meeting sponsors and exhibitors from 37 companies shared new insights and cutting edge products with attendees.

The education committee, comprised of Craig Norman, FCLSA; Ed Bennett, OD, FAAO; Pat Caroline, FCLSA, FAAO; Eef van der Worp, BSc Optom, PhD, FAAO; and Jason J. Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD, FAAO; constructed a program that covered every aspect of specialty lens practice, from fundamentals to post-surgical fitting and patient management issues. The international faculty provided insights into emerging diagnosis and treatment standards. Popular topics included large-diameter lenses, custom soft lenses, myopia control, lens care and compliance, and ocular surface disease. A report of the meeting will appear in a future issue of Contact Lens Spectrum.

Audio CDs of the event are available for purchase at www.GSL-Symposium.com. The 2012 Global Specialty Lens Symposium is planned for Jan. 26 to 29, 2012 at the Paris Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Study Looks at Patient Preferences

Vision is the most important consideration for selecting eyecare products, according to a recent global study.

The Needs, Symptoms, Incidence, Global Eye Health Trends (NSIGHT) study, commissioned by Bausch + Lomb, surveyed 3,800 spectacle- and contact lens-corrected subjects, 15 to 65 years old, from China, Korea, Japan, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The study's goal was to determine a hierarchy of patient needs in selecting eye-related products, based on respondents' scoring of 40 features representing eight categories of potential product features.

The eight categories of eyecare product benefits, in descending order of importance to patients, were vision, health, environment, eye condition, convenience, comfort, personal performance, and personal appearance.

B+L Gets License for KeraSoft Lens

United Kingdom-based UltraVision CLPL will market and sell KeraSoft soft contact lenses throughout the world through the network of Bausch + Lomb (B+L) lab channel partners under a global licensing agreement with B+L. As part of the agreement, B+L acquired the KeraSoft trademark. The global rollout of KeraSoft lenses will begin later this year and will be executed around the world in phases.

KeraSoft's patented technology allows for custom-made contact lenses for irregular corneas and keratoconus.

By utilizing B+L distribution channels throughout the world, B+L and UltraVision plan to significantly increase the number of patients who are able to benefit from customized KeraSoft contact lenses.

“Extending the KeraSoft technology allows the labs to expand the ability of practitioners to offer life-changing vision correction to a wider range of patients who have a variety of irregular cornea conditions resulting from keratoconus and pellucid marginal degeneration,” said Jerry Warner, vice president, Marketing and general manager, B+L, Global Contact Lens.

KeraSoft lenses, which are recognized with the U.K.'s Queen's Award for Enterprise and Innovation, are a patented combination of the latest technologies in soft and silicone hydrogel materials using geometries from complex mathematics to offer comfortable wear and excellent vision.

Reminder Tool Improving Replacement Compliance

Studies show that many lens wearers do not comply with recommended replacement frequencies and fail to discard their lenses after the scheduled time. Forgetting which day to change their lenses is most commonly cited by wearers as the reason for not changing them as instructed.

A new survey of contact lens wearers indicates that Acuminder, a complimentary online reminder tool developed by Vistakon that sends an automatic reminder via e-mail and/or cell phone text message on when to change contact lenses, is helping them change their behavior. The Acuminder tool now also prompts wearers on when to buy new lenses and when to schedule an eye exam.

Nearly 700 Acuminder users responded to a questionnaire about their contact lens wearing habits. Virtually all (95 percent) said they find the reminder tool useful in helping them remember when to change their lenses, with two-thirds (66 percent) noting that it has improved their contact lens replacement.

Prior to enrolling in Acuminder, 40 percent of survey respondents who wear two-week lenses self-reported that they changed their lenses at or less than every 14 days (average wear time: 19.9 days). Since using the reminder, 76 percent say they now change their lenses at or less than every 14 days (average days worn = 14.7).

Alden Optical Expands Program

Alden Optical, Inc. has expanded its Phoenix Program to include additional lenses recently discontinued by major manufacturers.

“Recent announcements of further discontinuations and holds on spherical lens brands have put practitioners in a difficult position. In many cases we can help by replicating these lenses with our custom manufacturing,” said Tom Shone, president, Alden Optical.

The Phoenix Program was developed in 2010 to provide practitioners with a solution when faced with discontinued soft sphere brands. Alden Optical offers lenses in polymacon, methafilcon, Benz 3X and Benz 5X in any base curve/diameter combination and with spherical powers of ±30.00D. To use the program, practitioners may call Alden Optical or an authorized distributor with the patient's prescription and current brand with specifications. Alden Optical will custom manufacture a very close replacement to the original lens and ship it within two business days.