GOC repeats warning on plano CLs

The General Optical Council has reiterated its position that plano contact lenses must be sold by or under the supervision of a registered optometrist following insistence by a supplier of decorative lenses that its cosmetic eye accessories do not infringe the Opticians Act.

As reported in Optician, (News, November 9), the GOC had received a formal complaint about a number of pharmacies selling plano cosmetic contact lenses without supervision.

In a subsequent letter to Optician (letters, November 30), Shen Sidana, managing director of Protea, supplier of Eye 2 Eye Contactz, offered an extensive explanation on how its lenses were a cosmetic product which fell under the regulation of the EU Cosmetics Directive and therefore were not governed by the Opticians Act. Sidana pointed out that a recent debate on the issue in the European Parliament confirmed this to be the case.