José Manuel Gonzalez-Meijome is an Associate Professor at Universidade do Minho, Braga in Portugal. He reports on a study, as presented at the Global Specialty Lens Symposium in Las Vegas (USA) that evaluates the performance of a novel soft contact lens for keratoconic eyes. In order to test the material objectively the visual analysis was evaluated, amongst other methods, by whole eye wavefront aberrometry. The researchers found that the optical quality of the eye improves significantly when fitting theses lenses on keratoconus patients. The results show that it is possible to improve significantly visual acuity even under lower contrast conditions with soft specialty lenses. Click here for the full report.

 

Specialty Soft lenses gain a lot of attention lately in the international literature. From prescribing for presbyopia 'Custom Toric Multifocals-Is It Finally Their Time?' in Contact Lens Spectrum to an article in Optometry and Vision Science on the use of "Corneal Topography and Soft Contact Lens Fit', showing the relative uselessness of conventional keratometry in soft lens fitting. In Contact Lens & Anterior Eye an interesting article on factors influencing 'toric soft lens orientation and visual acuity in non-standard conditions' showing that lens rotation changes with direction of gaze. Also check out 'Myopia Progression During Three Years of Soft Contact Lens Wear' showing that low Dk/t hydogel lens wearing children increase more in myopia than silicone hydrogel lens materials wearing kids in Optometry and Vision Science. Also see the section below with much more on that particular, very exciting, topic.

 

The hottest news in recent contact lens history was presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) meeting this year. Controlling myopia has been on the agenda ever since myopia was first described basically, but for the first time ever we may be able to do something with it. From the experiences with orthokeratology, we have learned that correcting the peripheral image shell in addition to the traditional center can be beneficial in reducing the progression of myopia in children. Numbers of 50% have been reported. But most recently, researchers have shown that the same effect can be reached with specialty soft lens designs. And they may have to be made in a custom made fashion: individual variance is high, and we may need to adjust for the individual peripheral refractive error. Click this link for all 2010 ARVO abstracts online.

 

Do you have an interesting case report involving a soft specialty lens fit? Please contact us and submit your experience and share it with your colleagues from around the world.