Six steps will minimise risk from trial lenses

Revised guidance on the decontamination of trial contact lenses and other contact devices has been released by the Department of Health's (DoH) Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP).

The new guidance replaces previous advice issued amid fears that Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and variant CJD, the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), could theoretically be transmitted from person to person by contact lenses, tonometer heads and diagnostic lenses.

Under the new guidance, six steps are required to minimise the risk of transmission via re-used contact devices. The lens or device should be:

Any further measure (such as autoclaving) can then be carried out, if this is necessary and if the device is designed to withstand such a process. Otherwise, it is ready for immediate re-use.