GP Insights

Spotlight on GPs From the GSLS

By Edward S. Bennett, OD, MSED, FAAO

The Global Specialty Lens Symposium (GSLS), held Jan. 26 to 29 in Las Vegas, was once again a very comprehensive clinical program that benefitted all 460 attendees, most of whom desire to implement and emphasize specialty contact lenses in their practices. I will highlight some of the more important outcomes of the meeting related to GP lenses.

GP Lens Highlights

1. Scleral Lenses The four-hour scleral fundamentals program was the most well attended fundamentals program in GSLS history. The breakout session on scleral fitting by Michael Ward, MMSc, FAAO, and Buddy Russell, FCLSA, COMT, LDO, required extra chairs for attendees.

Dr. Greg DeNaeyer emphasized that mini-scleral lenses (15.8mm in this case) are a good option for patients who have moderate irregularity, especially if the patient has noticeable ocular sensitivity. In addition, he discussed a case in which an 18 +mm overall diameter scleral lens design with an 8D steeper reverse curve was successful on a very oblate post-refractive surgery eye.

2. Presbyopia Developments In the presbyopia session, I emphasized two types of scleral designs being introduced by many laboratories that will flourish in 2012: multifocal designs with an aspheric/annular, center-near front surface and designs for post-refractive surgery patients that feature a reverse geometry back surface. In addition, it is apparent that the newer aspheric or aspheric/annular combination designs are extremely easy to fit, lending themselves especially to successful empirical fitting.

More multifocal designs are being manufactured in high-refractive- index materials such as Paragon HDS HI (Paragon Vision Sciences) and Optimum HR (Contamac). Such materials can allow for a higher add on the front surface while also promoting good centration as a result of less overall mass.

Recently introduced hybrid designs, such as the Duette Multifocal (SynergEyes) and the Pillow Lens (Fusion), can offer the initial comfort of a soft lens with the vision of a GP. The Duette Multifocal has an aspheric, center- near add zone in a 130Dk GP material surrounded by a silicone hydrogel skirt. The Pillow Lens consists of a soft lens with recessed front-surface geometry for holding a GP multifocal lens.

Dr. Tom Quinn discussed an application for presbyopes who have a Smartphone called iRead, which allows for better illumination and magnification of print.

3. Myopia Control Dr. Jacinto Santodomingo provided two-year results of his orthokeratology study in Spain in which 61 children participated with 30 wearing spectacles and 31 in overnight ortho-k. After two years, only two children had discontinued overnight ortho-k. In the 11 categories evaluated—including overall vision, overall satisfaction, and performance in numerous activities— overnight ortho-k scores were higher in 10 of the 11.

4. Ocular Health Dr. Fiona Stapleton reviewed her findings (2008) comparing the risk of vision loss (>2 lines) with contact lenses versus refractive surgery. She found contact lenses to have an extremely low risk (0.6/10,000 wearers per year versus a onetime risk of 57/10,000 wearers with refractive surgery). GP wearers fared very well with a risk of 0/10,000 wearers per year.

5. GP Care Systems Dr. Susan Gromacki discussed new developments from Menicon. First, its extra-strength cleaner, Progent, has received FDA approval for home use. Second, Menicon's Deluxe Care System (not available through mass merchandisers) can be sold by practitioners through Menicon's WebStore. Patients register online and receive their care solutions through the mail. Practitioners benefit from the solution sales and by keeping their GP patients in their preferred care system. CLS

For references, please visit www.clspectrum.com/references.asp and click on document #196.