Alcon's latest lens launch in the cosmetic, coloured or beauty segment is is Silicone Hydrogel Air Optix Colors product. This is a monthly replacement lens recommended for daily wear. From a health perspective the lens performs exactly the same as Air Optix Aqua. This means its Dk of 110 provides six times the oxygen of current generations of coloured lenses. It also has Alcon's plasma surface coating, a hydrophilic, lipid resisting layer. This materials science is strongly backed up in Alcon's description of the lens. The message being that it may be available in plano but it's a medical device.
The goal is to provide a lens with the necessary medical credentials but one that still fulfills the beauty requirements. Cosmetic contact lenses have always posed a bit of a conundrum for mainstream contact lens suppliers. How to offer the beauty benefits without any association with pure cosmetic lenses of the type sold in tattoo parlours and hairdressing salons.
By basing its latest product on the Air Optix lens Alcon hopes to have salved any concerns over the healthiness of the Colors version. Alcon also applied the same scientific rigour to colour selection. A simple step by step guide selects hair colour, eye colour and then the effect required; enhance or change. This leads to a choice of two lenses which are placed on the eye in a sequence which allows each to be compared to the natural eye colour and lens against lens. In this case brown hair, blue eyes and a wish for a change effect lead to Sterling Gray. The selection was simple and quick.
Air Optix Colors is as comfortable as any modern silicone hydrogel lens and the vision is as good. In low light conditions this wearer sensed something in the vision but once the lens was worn for a few days this effect diminished. The main drawback was that as a multifocal contact lens user a single vision lens was a problem, however the purpose of the trial was to assess the cosmetic effect, a much trickier proposition.
The image shows the effect the lens has of defining the iris and limbal area while making the scelra appear more white and providing more lustre to the iris. I can't say I was inundated with compliments but, that's hardly likely to happen. When asked people did say they noticed an effect with the general consensus being that of increased intensity around the look of the eye. It certainl;y gave the eye a more defined outline and a richer colour.
Strangely I did have someone say they liked my tie, perhaps a less embarrassing compliment to give.