A contact lens roadshow reaching more than a thousand practitioners across Europe earlier this month made it clear in no uncertain terms that the future of contact lenses resided in a daily disposable form.
However, Echoes of the Past from 40 years ago includes a Contact Lens Monthly section somewhat dominated by the one product that would be hit by such a development – solutions.
There are no fewer than 45 contact lens solutions for hard lenses and 24 solutions for soft lenses listed in a definitive guide to contact lens solutions in the issue. Powerful brand names including Transo, Titan, Blink-N-Clean and Kelvinsoak catch the eye, in particular, with bottle shapes and bactericidal effectiveness among the key selling points.
Meanwhile, in what could be deemed as the winter equivalent of ‘fixing the roof while the sun’s shining’, the December 1975 issue of Optician also includes an unseasonable offer on air conditioning.
The sight of an air conditioning unit arriving at the doorstep in December must have sent a chill down the spine of even the hardiest of staff members, albeit with a 20 per cent discount.
Realistically, although the market for contact lens solutions has shrunk, it is unlikely to be frozen out altogether while longer modality contact lenses remain a slightly cheaper and practical option for many wearers. Having said that, in another 40 years the profession is likely to have moved onto something altogether different once again thanks to the revolving wheel of technological advancements in today’s contact lens market.