This week's letters

Change of Focus
I would like to respond and clarify certain claims made in the article 'Clinical evaluation of a biocompatible daily disposable contact lens' that appeared in your October 7 issue that we believe could mislead your readers.

The Focus Dailies used in the study were a previous version of our product, and not the recently launched Focus Dailies All Day Comfort. Our own CIBA Vision study this year showed an 8 to 1 preference at final visit for the Focus Dailies lens cited in this paper over Clear 1-day, with strong results in quality of vision, handling and comfort.

Our new Focus Dailies All Day Comfort lens releases PVA onto the eye throughout the day to improve comfort and reduce dryness. Clinical trials demonstrate significant superiority of the new Focus Dailies All Day Comfort over the Clear 1-day for end of day and overall comfort, handling, quality of vision and overall preference by as much as 17 to 1.

The article also claims Clearlab is the first manufacturer to produce a biomimetic daily disposable contact lens. It could be argued that any hydrophilic contact lens material is biomimetic, as they have been successfully in use for many years (Wichterle patented a hydrophilic contact lens in 1968), so the interpretation of 'first' in this instance is potentially misleading.

Looking at the graphs related to conjunctival and limbal hyperaemia, it seems that the number of results are below those quoted for the completed study and perhaps the authors could clarify this?
Mark Draper
Professional Marketing Manager
CIBA Vision (UK)