editor’s perspective

GPs: The Small Segment with a Big Impact

BY JASON J. NICHOLS, OD, MPH, PHD, FAAO

I am going to be bold and state: There is no doubt in my mind that GP contact lenses are here to stay. This issue has been debated through the years. However, I have come to realize and believe that, while GP lenses make up a relatively small portion of the contact lens market, they make up one of the most important parts of it.

We all know that GP contact lenses, including corneal, scleral, and hybrid designs, are often our go-to lenses in complicated cases. They are able to correct the vision of patients who have high levels of astigmatism. They are able to correct the vision of presbyopes. They are able to correct vision in highly irregular and/or diseased corneas. When fitted by an expert, they are able to allow patients to continue to see and improve their quality of life—even though they may have been told that they need surgery to go on otherwise. And, when we say “correct vision,” we mean in a superb fashion.

So, I gladly present to you our October issue of Contact Lens Spectrum—our “Annual GP Issue” of the journal. As you will see, this issue is filled with new and exciting content on GP and specialty contact lenses of all sorts. That’s why this issue is one of our favorites of the year. Happy reading.

Speaking of new, we are launching an exciting technology this month in Contact Lens Spectrum called “Interactive Print,” which is accessible using the free Actable app from Quad/Graphics. With it, you will be able to view additional video content on your iOS or Android mobile device by simply scanning pages that contain the Actable logo. See p. 3 of the News Spectrum in this issue for complete download and usage instructions.

To see this technology in action, check out the Prescribing for Astigmatism column on page 14 as well as p. 34 of the “Scleral Lens Case Grand Rounds” feature.

Actable does not work with the online versions of these articles, but you can see the videos in the online archive by clicking on the links in the respective articles.