The Contact Lens Blog

Concern in Canada

2013-05-08T09:44:00Z

Hydrogen peroxide confusion has been touched upon before, in the US http://www.opticianonline.net/opticianspace/blogs/the_contact_lens_blog/archive/2012/06/07/clear-care-not-so-clear.aspx, but now it seems the whole of Canada is being warned of the dangers of failure to neutralise properly http://ca.news.yahoo.com/improper-peroxide-based-contact-lens-cleaners-harm-eyes-200806918.html Health Canada has received reports of eye injuries from consumers who have confused hydrogen peroxide-based solutions with other types of solutions and has requested that manufacturers update their packaging to highlight the risk of improper use, as well as providing step-by-step instructions http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2013/28539a-eng.php#you-vous There are a couple of quite obvious suggestions in the update and these are to read the product instructions and follow the advice of your eye care practitioner. It may not be enough to halt the odd lapse in concentration but if you put your un-neutralised lens in your eye once, you are unlikely to repeat the experience, such is the pain. It also seems manufacturers are acting and updating their packaging as well.

Some comfort for contact lens wearers

2013-05-02T09:49:00Z

New research out http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/wkh-cu043013.php highlights the beneficial effects on contact lens comfort from switching to a different lens/solution combination. As someone who has experience of not getting on particularly well with certain contact lens solutions when used with silicone hydrogel lenses, this comes as little surprise. My office based (sometimes) clinician has always advised me to go the preservative-free route and that seems to work. Anyway, this latest research found that roughly half of patients with contact lens-related symptoms reported improved comfort by switching to a different lens/solution combination. The study involved two groups of contact lens wearers - 24 patients who experienced discomfort at some point in the day and 13 symptom-free wearers. Patients were given best and worst combinations (based on previous studies) without knowing the combination they were using. Those wearers who had issues of discomfort rated the best combination as more comfortable, with little difference in the scores of the symptom-free patients. It is perhaps surprising that the results weren't even more decisive, however if you feel that your lens solution combination could be improved upon, it could be time to speak to your contact lens practitioner.

Scary eye recognition

2013-04-24T13:35:00Z

It's good to see recognition of a public health campaign, as is the case with the American Academy of Ophthalmology's 'Want Scary Eyes? The Dangers of Decorative Contact Lenses' receiving a Gold-Level Bulldog Award. It was chosen as the Best Not-for-Profit/Association/Government Campaign in awards judged by journalists, bloggers and PR critics: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-academy-ophthalmologys-efforts-warn-183200560.html;_ylt=A2KJ2UZw3ndR_yMAgFrQtDMD The campaign, including viral videos and an audio release, featured the case of Laura Butler who received a corneal scar and damaged vision after wearing over-the-counter contact lenses for just 10 hours. The end result of the efforts of the Academy's PR team was that the campaign received 1,500 news stories (including coverage over here in the Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2049170/Halloween-2011-Decorative-contact-lenses-damaged-vision.html) and more than 20,000 views of the videos, with an incredible total of 315 million media impressions - job well done. Not happy to rest on its laurels, the Academy is continuing to raise awareness of the need for proper fitting of contact lenses and a valid prescription.

A new daily lens pitch

2013-04-18T14:35:00Z

It's always nice to read about new material developments that could lead to more comfortable contact lenses, such as this recent announcement in the journal Nature Materials self-adapting-material-wettness-and-opacity-2013-4. The team involved suggest that a new adaptive material opens up the possibility of very differing developments - contact lenses that clean themselves, as well as water-repellent tents that can darken to block sunlight on bright days. While this all sounds very interesting, I'd much rather focus on a material development that is very much in the here and now. The resulting contact lens has already been available in other parts of Europe and now has been launched on the UK market and it is Alcon's Dailies Total 1. The new lens increases the water content from 33 per cent in the core to over 80 per cent on the surface, with improved lubricity and therefore comfort http://www.opticianonline.net/Articles/2013/04/05/30928/Alcon+launches+Dailies+Total1+.htm. The premium lens, which took a considerable time to develop, aims to address the issue of contact lens drop out through discomfort and statistics presented by Alcon indicate end of day comfort not far removed from that at insertion. The lens may be slippier on the finger, as a result of its lubricious surface, but it sounds well worth getting your hands on to try out.

Paddling protection

2013-03-14T10:33:00Z

After my last blog post on the perils of wearing my contact lenses while bobbing with my son in the children's pool and the ensuing splashing from some of the junior participants, the very kind people at Aquaviz have suggested I give their product a try. Launched at Mido just the other week, Aquaviz is a watersport mask with a snap in prescription insert that can take single-vision, bifocal and progressive lens options. It uses a single gasket design, for even distribution of pressure, and includes a hypoallergenic skirt for a watertight fit. The lenses are scratch resistant on the outside and fog resistant on the inside, as well as being UV protective for outdoor use. They also come in a polarised option, so every base is covered. Hopefully the next time I stride manfully into the children's pool at Tooting Leisure Centre, I will do so without my contact lenses and the fear of getting water in my eyes. Perhaps looking like an ironman (purely in terms of the mask) in three feet of water may seem a bit over the top, but it makes much more sense than risking an eye infection. Further details on the watersport mask at www.aquaviz.com.

Now here's a good idea

2013-03-11T12:51:00Z

I have to agree with the British Contact Lens Association's lobbying of contact lens manufacturers to place a 'no water' warning on contact lens packaging http://www.opticianonline.net/Articles/2013/03/08/30811/BCLA+argues+merits+of+%27no+water%27+warnings.htm as you just cannot rely on people being sensible, as my story that follows illustrates. The recent flurry of contact lens infection stories in the UK national press show the dangers of coming into contact with water, whether shower or swimming pool, if you're a contact len wearer. I, however, took my young son to the swimming pool the other week, and not having any Rx goggles, wore my contact lenses. I hadn't bargained on some over-enthusiastic splashing from some of the other 'swimmers', got splashed in my eyes and, on return home, immediately took my contact lenses out, cleaned them and left them in solution, giving them another rinse before insertion the next morning. Reading the infection stories had made me much more aware of the dangers and I really should have used some daily disposables, to remove and throw away. The other option I will pursue is to invest in some tight fitting goggles, if these swimming visits are to become regular. Anything manufacturers and practitioners can do to highlight the risk of water contact with contact lenses is a step in the right direction. I'm sure there are plenty of wearers out there who don't know the dangers of wearing them in the shower and a 'no-water' warning and logos of dangers may be enough to change some habits.

Saline saviour

2013-02-19T12:10:00Z

Taking your contact lenses on holiday could be a life saver. I'm not talking about my recent holiday to a fairly remote island where, on arrival, I discovered that my washbag with contact lenses and back-up pair had been left sitting on my sofa at home. Without any local opticians to visit, there followed a week in the sunshine with my sunglasses perched on top of my spectacles. Aside from looking slightly deranged, the doubled up eyewear wasn't particularly comfortable. I also had a full bottle of multipurpose solution with me that didn't get used. No, the life saving story relates to the English student who was stranded in flaming conditions in the Australian outback and discovered some daily disposable contact lenses his father had kindly packed away in his rucksack. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/435719/20130215/sam-woodhead-survived-australian-outback-drinking-contact.htm He was able to sip the saline solution and survived for three nights without suffering from dehydration. It also helped that the chap in question was physically fit, had some survival training and managed to avoid venomous snakes. When I next venture off on holiday, I too will be packing some spare contact lenses in my hand luggage.

Fusarium alerts

2013-02-12T14:51:00Z

There has been some very alarming contact lens coverage in the past couple of weeks, with The Sun and the Daily Mail carrying a couple of sensational pieces about two particularly unfortunate wearers who have lost eyes as a result of Fusarium infections. As ever with such horror stories, there isn't much detail on optician involvement in the fitting and instruction of wearing the contact lenses, how long they were used for etc. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2272029/Dailies-contact-lenses-Jacqui-Stone-left-eye-removed-contracting-aggressive-infection.html and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2272029/Dailies-contact-lenses-Jacqui-Stone-left-eye-removed-contracting-aggressive-infection.html and the two cases together http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4790290/Contact-lens-fungus-ate-my-eye-too.html If anything can be learned from these stories it is the need to get your contact lenses fitted by a CL practitioner, attend after-care appointments and follow advice on wear of the lenses eg take them out immediately if you feel pain in your eye, as well as proper care. There are also some questions over supply/manufacture, which will no doubt be covered if the cases are taken to court. Just reading these stories yesterday had me reaching for a new pair of lenses this morning and making sure I'd washed my hands properly before insertion. Using fresh solution, not showering in lenses and throwing them away at the end of their wear schedule are also vital. These cases really make for sorry reading and without doubt cause alarm among CL wearers as attested by the commentary on the Mumsnet site: http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/a1675043-Omg-the-Daily-Fail-contact-lens-story-I-now-feel-like-Im-playing-Russian-Roulette-with-my-eyes-reassure-me

An idea that gels

2013-01-24T14:16:00Z

It's been a little while since a contact lens story has caught my eye, but this piece about an antimicrobial hydrogel that can destroy multidrug-resistant superbugs is just the thing to get me started: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1249924/1/.html It reminds me of a previous post on an antimicrobial coating that had been signed up by a contact lens firm http://www.opticianonline.net/opticianspace/blogs/the_contact_lens_blog/archive/2012/05/11/superbug-killers.aspx if not quite as far along the road to commercial use - but I stand to be corrected if this is not the case. Anyway the latest gel seems to have possibilities in contact lens coating, wound healing, skin infection treatment and dental fillings. As it's a biodegradeable gel that can be naturally eliminated by the body, I imagine it's more likely to be used with daily disposable contact lenses, although details on this are a bit thin on the ground. I for one can't wait to see some of these technological developments making it into a finished product, optical or dental.

Vanity thy name is contact lenses

2012-11-30T16:26:00Z

There's some interesting detail on the potential future market for contact lens use in this report http://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-market-eyeglasses-reach-113-222300690.html;_ylt=A2KJ3CUn3bhQ7SMAdjPQtDMD which predicts the global market to exceed $12.2bn by 2018. However I have to take issue with the comment 'Vanity continues to be the major factor driving contact lens usage'. Obviously this may be true of wearers of coloured contact lenses, but I think it's rather unfair on those of us who prefer the better peripheral vision afforded by a contact lens. I started out wearing contact lenses as a myopic rugby playing teenager and have never been tempted away by fancy spectacles, mainly because I feel much less bumbling when going about my daily activities wearing contact lenses. It's also interesting to note that multi-focus is the fastest growing segment in soft contact lenses and that's presumably as a result of long-term wearers like myself succumbing to presbyopia and wanting to continue with contact lens wear. Nonetheless, compared to the global market for spectacles, projected at $113.2bn by 2018, the contact lens sector remains much smaller at roughly a tenth of the value. Growth drivers of trendy and sporty spectacle frames that create a statement could arguably be called more of a vanity purchase, but good vision whatever your choice of correction is not to be sniffed at.

Bad Hobbits

2012-11-22T15:31:00Z

I've just stumbled on this random news from New Zealand about hardships exeperienced by actors filming the Hobbit, that include having to share coloured contact lenses and having to wear costumes that cut off circulation: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/121325/nz-actors'-union-still-seeking-minimum-standards A web search doesn't reveal any further detail and I cannot find a great deal more information on Hobbit eyes. Tolkein's decription, via Wikipedia, makes no mention:

'I picture a fairly human figure, not a kind of 'fairy' rabbit as some of my British reviewers seem to fancy: fattish in the stomach, shortish in the leg. A round, jovial face; ears only slightly pointed and 'elvish'; hair short and curling (brown). The feet from the ankles down, covered with brown hairy fur. Clothing: green velvet breeches; red or yellow waistcoat; brown or green jacket; gold (or brass) buttons; a dark green hood and cloak (belonging to a dwarf).^[10]'

While it is unlikely that any Hobbits would be seriously harmed by tight-fitting clothing, the sharing of contact lenses is not to be recommended and can heighten the risk of infection, so there is reason for Hobbit concern. A quick look at cast and production reveals that one crew member was a contact lens painter http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/combined which would imply that the coloured lenses that were in such seemingly short supply were not mass manufactured. The film is due for release in the UK in December, giving viewers the chance to see if such suffering for the sake of art was worth it.

Multifocals - growing up is (not so) hard to do

2012-11-08T16:10:00Z

I've only gone and tried a multifocal contact lens and I'm here and happy to tell the tale. Just the other week I was scouring my office diary to find the best available route for a journey across London using the London Underground map in an old Ambassador diary. No matter how I held the diary about my person, I was unable to read the illegible jumble of names that blurred around the tangle of underground lines. I was stumped and knew I could no longer put off the inevitable. I put the diary back in the drawer and accessed a larger tube map online and then decided, warily, to try some multifocal lenses. Now several days into my trial of Sauflon's Clariti one-day multifocals http://www.opticianonline.net/Articles/2012/05/04/29409/New+vision+for+presbyopia.htm I can safely say I'm a convert. The lenses are as comfortable as the previous Clariti one days I've tried and the all-round vision is excellent. Having had some discomfort of late with monthly and two-weekly silicone hydrogel contact lenses, it's nice to be putting in fresh new lenses each morning as well. But the main difference is that I no longer have to shuffle pages around the desk and I can now read the small station names on the offending tube map without magnification. I'm getting older, but no-one really need to know for a while yet.

The big UV opportunity

2012-10-25T14:22:00Z

Following on from a recent blog post on UV protective contact lenses http://www.opticianonline.net/opticianspace/blogs/the_contact_lens_blog/archive/2012/05/31/the-uv-message.aspx I can point readers to some new research that shows almost half of UK contact lens consumers would be interested in giving UV protective lenses a whirl. Presented at the American Academy of Optometry meeting in Arizona, the Johnson & Johnson Vision Care-sponsored online study (Contact lens wearers in the UK and Poland and contact lens considerers in Poland) found that awareness of UV protective lenses was low in the UK at 26 per cent, compared with Poland at 66 per cent. That there is a potential market is revealed by the stat that in the UK 43 per cent of contact lens wearers who didn't currently have UV-blocking contact lenses, or were unsure if their lenses offered UV protection, were highly interested in trying them. This is one way of improving the use of protection, with 95 per cent in the UK using some form of protection in sunny conditions, dropping to a lowly 16 per cent in non-sunny conditions. There is also clearly an opportunity for practitioners to promote UV protecting contact lenses and some natty sunglasses.

How's this for red eye?

2012-10-12T09:25:00Z

When I first saw the photo attached to this article http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/wp/2012/10/10/with-red-eyes-bryce-harper-looks-to-break-his-slump/?wprss=rss_sports I was sure it was another timely piece warning on the dangers of wearing cosmetic contact lenses at Halloween. However, on closer reading it appears to be an article on baseball and, in spite of the player's intimidating appearance, I quickly realised it wasn't covering the ocular dangers of doping either. In fact it's a story about the player's attempts to get back on track and play in sunny conditions. It turns out the contact lenses are not new and aim to block blue light and glare http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1106093/index.htm One of the main benefits, vision aside, is that they are not going to get in the way as much as sunglassses and are unlikely to slip down the nose in the heat of the battle. What would really improve the story would be a detailed comparative study on the player's performance with and without the contact lenses, followed up by one on the effects of the lenses on opposition pitchers?

Protect your eyes

2012-10-03T15:28:00Z

It's now the time of year for the annual Halloween warnings on the danger of cosmetic contact lenses http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story/Halloween-contact-lenses-could-leave-you-blind/RqwGP43Nk0u294GxMjD9fw.cspx?rss=50. The first to issue such a warning is the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and State who warned that it was against the law to sell decorative cosmetic lenses without a prescription and that using unfitted lenses could pose a serious health risk. This is a message that is well worth repeating as no one wants to hear of major eye health problems all because you want to look scary for a night. This alert somewhat pales alongside another medical alert on the dangers on these shores on bonfire night, this time from a new type of firework that left several people blind last year. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121003083035.htm?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmost_popular+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Most+Popular+News%29 Major concerns were raised in a letter in the British Medical Journal that pointed out that 'rope banger deer scarers' were being cut down and thrown when lit. As they're not actually fireworks they appear to be exempt from legislation. Organisers of firework events are being called on to encourage safe handling of fireworks as well as encouraging eye protection, not to mention stopping people throwing explosive devices at other people. So there you have it, two very different dangers to the eyes, both with potentially blinding consequences if not handled properly.