• Looking for an easy-to-use online reference guide to fit specialty lenses? Bausch + Lomb is introducing four downloadable educational guides: scleral lenses ( http://commons.pacificu.edu/mono/4), keratoconus and presbyopia with GP ( http://cclr.uwaterloo.ca/education-resources) and Boston ( http://fit-boston.com).

• TearScience has just named Duke Eye Center in Durham, NC, a Center of Excellence—the Center will now host eye care physicians, practice administrators and eye care technicians involved in dry eye patient education and assessments to help develop familiarity and expertise on the TearScience system. The TearScience system includes the Lipiview ocular surface interferometer and the Lipiflow thermal pulsation system. For more information, visit www.tearscience.com.

• Prevent Blindness America announces the second annual PBA Focus on Eye Health National Summit to be held on June 18, 2013 in Washington, DC. The free event will include presentations from leaders in vision and public health. To register, visit www.preventblindness.org/eyesummit.

• A corneal inlay to treat presbyopia is now being considered for FDA approval. AcuFocus has submitted the final module of its premarket approval application to the FDA for the Kamra corneal inlay. Kamra is currently approved in 47 countries, and nearly 20,000 inlays have been implanted to date. For more information, visit www.acufocus.com.

• A new semi-scleral lens design, Rose K2 XL (Menicon) has a standard diameter of 14.6mm (range from 13.6mm to 15.6mm) and a wide range of parameters, including base curves from 5.8mm to 8.4mm. It also has nine edge-lift options to control the landing zone on the scleral. For more information, visit www.meniconamerica.com.

A Customizable Sceral Prosthetic for KC
Researchers have found that customized scleral lens prosthetic devices (SLPD) with wavefront-guided optics can successfully correct higher-order aberrations in advanced keratoconus patients.

In a small study of six advanced keratoconus patients, 11 eyes were fitted with an SLPD with conventional spherical optics. A custom Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor measured aberrations through a dilated pupil with the lens in place. In addition, the horizontal and vertical decentration relative to the pupil and rotation were measured. Best-corrected high-contrast visual acuity and contrast sensitivity were recorded between the natural mesopic pupil and the SLPDs.

Higher-order aberrations were effectively corrected by the customized SLPD with wavefront-guided optics and the root mean square was reduced 3.1 times on average. This correction resulted in 1.9 lines improvement in mean visual acuity (p<0.05). Contrast sensitivity was also significantly improved. Residual aberration was comparable to that of normal eyes, but the average visual acuity in logMAR with the customized SLPD was 0.21—substantially worse than normal acuity. The study is published in the April issue of Optometry & Vision Science.

The Final Countdown
Stock up today! Vistakon has just announced that it plans to discontinue three Acuvue products as of July 1, 2013. Acuvue contact lenses will no longer be available in all 9.1 base curves, and 8.4 and 8.8 base curves of parameters -6.50D to -11.0D are being discontinued. The 8.4 and 8.8 base curve lenses will continue to be available in the -0.50D to -6.00D parameters. All parameters of Acuvue Bifocal and Acuvue 2 Colors will be discontinued as of December 31, 2013.

Practitioners can upgrade patients from these older lenses to their next-generation counterparts Acuvue Oasys, 1-Day Acuvue Moist and 1-Day Acuvue TruEye brands.

Vistakon also announced the US introduction of 1-Day Acuvue TruEye with narafilcon A, which will gradually replace the narafilcon B product. The narafilcon A solution is available in two additional base curves (8.5 and 9.0). For more information, visit www.acuvueprofessional.com.

Next-generation Hybrid Lens for Irregular Corneas
Capitalizing on the success of the Jupiter scleral lens, Visionary Optics has released the second-generation Europa, which features a reverse geometry curve design. The lens has an expanded optic zone to allow increased sagittal depth and corneal clearance without having to steepen the base or peripheral curves, allowing for better corneal vault. Europa uses Boston XO and XO2 materials. A seven- and 14-lens diagnostic fitting set is available. For more information, visit www.visionary-optics.com.

An Automated Communicator
Eye care practitioners can now communicate with patients automatically using custom web-based software. Building on CV+, CooperVision’s partnership program with optometrists, Websystems 3 allows practices to automate key communications such as practice-branded email marketing campaigns, newsletters, survey requests, push text messages and Facebook posts. An integrated mobile application and automated voice messaging are also available.
Websystems 3 is a cloud-based software created by Michael Arnell, OD, that assists practitioners in automating scheduling of available appointment times and connecting satisfied patients to online review sites. For more information, visit www.coopervision.com.

Next-generation Hybrid Lens for Irregular Corneas
If you’re looking for a lens versatile enough to fit a wide range of keratoconic patients, the UltraHealth (SynergEyes) hybrid contact lens is designed for emerging, mid-stage and advanced keratoconus, the company says. The lens uses a reverse geometry design that combines a soft skirt (84 Dk) and central rigid gas-permeable material (130 Dk). The central area of vault is available in several heights to ensure clearance, and the silicone hydrogel skirt is available in three curves (flat, medium and steep) to ensure centration and patient comfort.

The reverse geometry design allows the lens to achieve the vault needed to contain the cone with a flatter base curve than a standard geometry design, which the company says results in an ideal lacrimal lens and lower minus lens power. The flatter base curve also allows the centration to be less dependent on the location of the curve. The lens, with better centration and lower power, reduces aberrations, increases vision quality and provides high oxygen permeability. For more information, visit www.synergeyes.com.