Worlds First Aspheric Contact Lens .................

[Chris Ryser]

OCULAR SCIENCES LAUNCHES NEW ASPHERIC LENS


Ocular Sciences has announced that it has introduced the world's first disposable aspheric contact lens, the Biomedics 55 Premier, which corrects the spherical aberration in both the lens and the patient's eye, and resuls in sharper, crisper vision for contact lens wearers,.

Spherical aberration is caused by light being refracted at varying angles as it passes through the optical components of both the contact lens and the patient's eye. Without the appropriate correction, light rays will not focus precisely on the back of the patient's eye. The new contact lens is the first disposable aspheric lens to simultaneously correct for spherical aberration in the contact lens and in the patient's eye.

The product, marketed under the Biomedics Premier brand and other private labels, is now being launched in the U.S. and Canada, and will be available in the near future. According to industry data, in the U.S. alone, it is estimated that the market for spherical contact lens is more than $800 million and that they are worn by more than 80 percent of the 34 million disposable contact lens patients.

[ikon44]

I have always been a bit sceptical about the claims made for soft aspheric contact lenses. I remember the frequency AB lens claimed to mask up to 1.00
dioptre of cyl, but the clients i fitted with it did not notice any difference.
a lot of the visual problems with soft lenses are to do with small amounts of uncorrected astigmatism, but with toric lenses so good now,that should not be an issue now.
I am also curious as to how this lens will cope with large pupils, and night vision
difficulties that soft lens wearers have . We also have the problem of dehydration , this can also cause a drop in vision, therefore the material needs to be of proclear/ acuvue advance technology in order to minimise this problem.
I await it,s debut with interest.

[drk]

Count me as a skeptic, as well. I've been around long enough to smell a marketing claim instead of a true advancement.

Spherical abberation in the lens itself is one thing. I guess you could try to make an aspheric front surface for the contact lens, but centration would be more critical than a spherical surface, I believe.

As far as the eye's spherical abberation, that will vary from patient to patient, so I don't know what value they felt they needed to put in.

There's also a big misunderstanding as to the relationship between spherical abberation and uncorrected astigmatism. Aspheric lens design does not mask astigmatism. It simply attempts to clean up another abberation that degrades vision. There is no reason to fit an astigmatic patient in an aspheric more than there is for a spherical refractive error. Why not clean up S.A. for both types of patients?

My cynical opinion is that there is an emerging market for premium spherical soft contact lenses (Extreme H20, Proclear, Advance, Frequency Aspheric, the above mentioned lens). I think they are trying to combat the "commodity" perception of giants like Acuvue, et al, and provide Drs. with a chance to differentiate themselves from the pack. I think it's mostly smoke and mirrors, though.

[Chris Ryser]

Count me as a skeptic, as well. ..............................

My cynical opinion is that there is an emerging market for premium spherical soft contact lenses (Extreme H20, Proclear, Advance, Frequency Aspheric, the above mentioned lens). I think they are trying to combat the "commodity" perception of giants like Acuvue, et al, and provide Drs. with a chance to differentiate themselves from the pack. I think it's mostly smoke and mirrors, though.

DRK

Are actually saying that they are trying to do what the frame manufacturers did with designer frames?

[ikon44]

I think that there are genuine advances in contact lens technology. Silicon Hydrogels have made a demonstrable improvement in comfort and corneal oxygenation.

I had patients who could only wear regular hema lenses for 2 or 3 hours without
ending up with slightly pink, gritty eyes, switch them to N/day or Purevision
( not overnight wear), and they can wear them 10/12 hours comfortably, with no symptoms.

Proclear, while not as good as silicon hydrogels, also performs better than standard lenses, if you have a client who works in front of a PC all day they will notice an improvement in comfort and far less drying if they switch to them.

these products are genuine advances and well worth reccomending to your clients. I would be less happy extolling the benefits of abberation controlled spherical lenses to my patients.

[drk]

No, I totally agree with you, Robert. The material advances are worthwhile! I'm not completely sold on the group 2 lenses like Extreme H20 or Proclear. I love the silicone hydrogels.

Chris,
I think that Ralph Lauren should come out with designer contact lenses, for a price, of course!

[ikon44]

yes, silicon hydrogels are definately the future, I think if they can manufacture a daily
disposable silicon hydrogel cheaply enough,it will be safest , most comfortable, contact lens ever made. I have quite a few clients on 30 day and night continuous wear, but I still get a small percentage that develop a CLPU.
So silicon hydrogel dailies would be better still.

[drk]

Here in the US, we are banned from having Purevision. When I could use it, I liked it better than the Focus. Do you like Purevision? Is the Purevision Toric available yet?

[ikon44]

Here in the US, we are banned from having Purevision. When I could use it, I liked it better than the Focus. Do you like Purevision? Is the Purevision Toric available yet?

yes, fortunately we can still get purevision in the uk, I had a meeting with Bausch last week and they tell me the toric will be available by the end of the year.
They seem to have changed their marketing on the purevision, they have reduced the cost price by around 30%, and are keener to sell it as a daily wear lens with occasional overnight facility, the price break makes it more affordable for people who just want a good all day wear lens.

[drk]

The "flexible wear" marketing strategy is a good one, I think, and so is the price drop. The problem with Ciba's approach is that it may scare off some OD's who don't like the 30 day wear regimen, and it's rather expensive to be considered a daily wear modality. I think some progressive practices are making it a lens of choice for all patients, with flexible modality, and I like that philosophy. I think most practitioners here haven't thought "out-of-the-box" enough with the Focus N&D.

I read on the net that we may have both Purevision lenses in 2005. Here's hoping that's true.

[ikon44]

yes, I agree a flexible wear modality is ideal, that is what we are doing in my practice. we are recommending silicon hydrogels as the best option, and are also reccomending purevision as the first choice. the other advantage to this, is , if pxs are sleeping in lenses occasionally, I limit their prescriptions to a 6 month validity.

We are also in the process of upgrading our Gas Permeable patients to the Menicon Z
I have been surprised by how many would like occasional overnight wear.it is working well for us

[drk]

The scoop I get on Menincon Z is that it has poor parameter stability. Has that been the case, or is it too soon to tell?

[ikon44]

The scoop I get on Menincon Z is that it has poor parameter stability. Has that been the case, or is it too soon to tell?

6 patients fitted and happy so far, I will let you know if any problems arise

[Jedi]

I think that Ralph Lauren should come out with designer contact lenses, for a price, of course!

If I am remembering correctly FCUK (French Connection UK) and CIBA came out with a FCUK Daily lens in the UK

[ikon44]

If I am remembering correctly FCUK (French Connection UK) and CIBA came out with a FCUK Daily lens in the UK

yes they did, and they actually charged more for it than the focus box, i think a few people bought it, but it seems to have died a death

[chip anderson]

Don't know how they can make the claim of the "Worlds First Aspheric Lens" we had them in rigid lenses since David Volk in the '60's. All the soft spin-cast lenses were and are aspheric. Several manufacturers have had "aspheric astigmatism masking lenses" for quite some time in varying modalities. Shoot, some of them even work, sometimes.

What's the big deal other than a new "miracle advertising gimick". It's kind of like announcing a "new more comfortable miracle edge" that actually brings your old lousy edge up to the standards your competition has had for years. It sells if you use T.V. and and cute little reps with mini-skirts but it doesn't really do anything new.

Chip

[ikon44]

I have Noticed that OSI always seem to be Johnny come latelys when it comes to new products, the daily lens was launched long after ciba/j&j/ B/L had their
lenses out.
Also the toric, long after all the major players, now they have discovered aspheric designs, at this rate they will launch a silicon hydrogel in 2010,
and no doubt it will be the best thing since sliced bread.
They must be fans of PT Barnum

[Luckyshot]

Don't know how they can make the claim of the "Worlds First Aspheric Lens" we had them in rigid lenses since David Volk in the '60's. All the soft spin-cast lenses were and are aspheric. Several manufacturers have had "aspheric astigmatism masking lenses" for quite some time in varying modalities. Shoot, some of them even work, sometimes.

What's the big deal other than a new "miracle advertising gimick". It's kind of like announcing a "new more comfortable miracle edge" that actually brings your old lousy edge up to the standards your competition has had for years. It sells if you use T.V. and and cute little reps with mini-skirts but it doesn't really do anything new.

Chip

Hmmm..., I think they need to send some of those "cute little reps with mini-skirts" my way! I imagine these are the UltraFlex 55 IIs that my store will shortly be switching our Ultraflex 55s out for (got the box yesterday). They call it "II" instead of "Premier", but it does say aspheric on the boxes, so I imagine that's just a branding issue. If so they at least haven't gone up on the price any, nor changed the parameters.

[mlm]

I have Noticed that OSI always seem to be Johnny come latelys when it comes to new products, the daily lens was launched long after ciba/j&j/ B/L had their
lenses out.
Also the toric, long after all the major players, now they have discovered aspheric designs, at this rate they will launch a silicon hydrogel in 2010,
and no doubt it will be the best thing since sliced bread.
They must be fans of PT Barnum

I asked my OSI rep about that a couple of days ago (while she was in extolling the virtues of Biomedics 55 Premier). Her story is that OSI waits a while to let other companies work out the kinks in new products, then they come out with their "better" product. "That's why Biomedics Torics have proven to be the most stable disposable toric lens on the market," says she.

By the way, she says the silicone lens will be out 2006.

[ikon44]

I asked my OSI rep about that a couple of days ago (while she was in extolling the virtues of Biomedics 55 Premier). Her story is that OSI waits a while to let other companies work out the kinks in new products, then they come out with their "better" product. "That's why Biomedics Torics have proven to be the most stable disposable toric lens on the market," says she.

By the way, she says the silicone lens will be out 2006.

I think the B/L 66 toric beats the biomedic toric on stability and range of parameters, I think you can take the 2006 date for a silicon hydrogel with a pinch of salt.
In the uk OSI cannot even provide a post direct to patient service.

[mlm]

I think the B/L 66 toric beats the biomedic toric on stability and range of parameters, I think you can take the 2006 date for a silicon hydrogel with a pinch of salt.
In the uk OSI cannot even provide a post direct to patient service.

The ODs at my clinic prefer Frequency 55 Toric or Proclear Toric. I agree that the parameters of Biomedic Toric leave much to be desired.

With Cooper buying out OSI, it'll be interesting to watch if they'll continue to use their "wait and see" tactic. I would guess that the success of the silicone hydrogels would push Cooper/OSI to get their lens out sooner rather than later.