• Brazilian company Mediphacos has acquired the licensing rights to the Acculens’ Maxim and Comfort SL branded scleral lens designs. The agreement will allow Acculens to enter the Brazilian market, with an option to expand into all of South America, Central America and Mexico. For more information, visit www.acculens.com.
• The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent to Contamac, Ltd. for the protection of its propriety silicone hydrogel polymer materials, including the Definitive contact lens product. The patent covers polymer composition, formulation design, production and contact lens manufacturing, including the provision of an indication for finished contact lenses resulting from the production process. For more information, visit www.contamac.com.
• Art Optical Contact Lens, Inc. introduced an online ordering option for practitioners and technicians involved in specialty contact lens fitting. The new order page ( www.artoptical.com/ordering/online-order-form) offers a comprehensive listing of the custom lens options available and guides users through material and color choices by lens design, while protecting patient information and offering print options for copies on orders. For more information, visit www.artoptical.com.
• Healthy Vision with Dr. Val Jones, a program supported by Acuvue and hosted by Val Jones, M.D., CEO of Better Health, LLC, announced a series of new programming to discuss how early identification of vision problems and different types of vision correction can impact a child’s self-esteem, confidence and performance. Guests this season include optometrist and researcher Jeffrey Walline, O.D., clinical psychology professor Mitchell Prinstein, Ph.D., and actress Meaghan Martin. For more information, visit www.acuvue.com/healthyvision.
New WaveForm Technology Unveiled
Partnering with Veatch Ophthalmic Instruments and Huvitz, WaveForm has developed a process to acquire individualized wavefront data from each patient, integrate this information into the eye care practitioner’s refracting process and then transmit this data directly to an advanced free-form generator to manufacture eyeglass lenses.
The manufacturing of free-form eyeglass lenses uses high order aberration information different from contact lenses. Wavefront data for ophthalmic lenses optimizes the cylinder and axis of the resultant manifest refraction and, when combined with precise frame fitting measurements, generates the optimal low order prescription for each patient. For contact lenses, high order aberrations can be asymmetrically placed on the front surface of a soft contact lens, accurately correcting the imperfections that can cause vision discomfort, especially under low light conditions.
The fully customizable WaveFront Guided Progressive Multifocal soft contact will be available in early 2012. For more information, visit www.waveformlenses.com.
Fera Launches New Solution
Fera Pharmaceuticals announces the launch of Garamycin (gentamicin sulfate). Garamycin is an ophthalmic solution indicated for the treatment of ocular bacterial infections, such as conjunctivitis, keratitis and belpharitis. For more information, visit
www.ferapharma.com.
Allergan Releases Dry Eye Study
Allergan, Inc. conducted an online survey from March 4-8, 2011 among 2,411 adults to ask dry eye sufferers how the condition affects them and how they manage their symptoms. Key findings include:
• 48% of adults experience one or more dry eye symptoms regularly.
• 52% of women experience one or more dry eye symptoms regularly.
• A majority of adults who use OTC drops to manage symptoms say it is not at all successful in addressing dry eye.
• 69% of U.S. adults who experience dry eye have not visited an eye care professional to be treated.
• Of the 41% of U.S. adults who have visited an eye care professional, 19% needed to visit more than once before they found relief and 22% have not found any relief.
For more information, visit www.allergan.com.
CLMA Hits 50-Year Milestone
By Edward S. Bennett, O.D., M.S.Ed., and Gretchyn M. Bailey, N.C.L.C.
In 1961, about a dozen people in the fledgling contact lens industry, including Joe Goldberg, O.D., and Raleigh Althisar, O.D., met in Chicago to discuss how to handle a potentially huge blow to the industry—a Boston ophthalmologist said wearing contact lenses could cause blindness. Fifty years later, the Contact Lens Manufacturers Association (CLMA) weathered that crisis and others, including working with the FDA to reclassify gas-permeable (GP) contact lenses as Class II medical devices.
CLMA President Al Vaske of Lens Dynamics with GPLI Executive Director Dr. Edward S. Bennett.
The CLMA is the global professional association of contact lens laboratories, material, solution and equipment manufacturers. Its mission is to increase awareness and utilization of custom-manufactured contact lenses.
“The CLMA’s effort to educate practitioners about GP lens fitting is our greatest contribution,” said Al Vaske, CLMA president. “Education has been our number-one priority and always will be.”
The Gas Permeable Lens Institute (GPLI) is the educational arm of the association and provides many clinical and practice-building resources to eye care practitioners. Launched in 1985, the GPLI offers a program of workshops at optometry schools, monthly online symposia and a library of educational materials for students and practitioners alike. Edward S. Bennett, O.D., M.S.Ed., has been the executive director of the GPLI since 1988.
Quality and excellence have long been celebrated by the Association, as noted by the granting of its Seal of Excellence to laboratories that meet or exceed ANSI standards for manufacturing tolerance and the Dr. Joseph Dallos Award for outstanding contribution to the development and advancement of the contact lens industry.
Two-time CLMA President Quido Cappelli presenting the Dr. Josef Dallos award to Dr. Richard Hill in 1991.
At the heart of the CLMA is its members—a group of like-minded people brought together to advance the fitting of custom contact lenses. The camaraderie among the group has led to its cohesiveness, allowing the CLMA to speak with one voice for its members.
“The CLMA speaks as a united front for all its members. The formation of the GP Lens Institute created a platform for contact lens education of practitioners, and this had immense benefits for practitioners and the public,” said Past President George Meszaros. “The CLMA is able to bring new technologies to be showcased at its conventions, and this in turn is heralding a whole new family of lenses for future generations.”
For more information, visit CLMA at www.clma.net or GPLI at
www.gpli.info.
CLMA Past Presidents
1962-1966 Joe B. Goldberg, O.D., Conforma Laboratories, Inc. Norfolk, VA
1967-1971 Quido A. Cappelli, Danker and Wohlk, Inc. Uniondale, NY
1972 Raleigh S. Althisar, O.D., Quality Optics, Inc. Atlanta, GA
1974 Harold C. Brown, Halcon, Inc. Elmhurst, IL
1976 Charles W. Neefe, Neefe Optical Lab Big Spring, TX
1978 Glenn C. Young, O.D., Custom Contact Lens Lab New Orleans, LA
1980 George K. Meszaros, Capitol Contact Lenses, Inc. Kensington, MD
1982 Anthony L. Salvatori, Salvatori Ophthalmics, Inc. Sarasota, FL
1984 William D. Platt, O.D., Platt Contact Lens Service Mt. Vernon, OH
1986 Bernard O. Megard, Vision-Ease Contact Lens Lincoln, NE
1988 Carl F. Moore, Con-Cise Contact Lens Co. San Leandro, CA
1990 J. Dan Bailey, Bailey-Smith Corporation Little Rock, AR
1992 Charles Harris, Mo-Con Laboratories St. Louis, MO
1994 Quido A. Cappelli, Cappelli Ophthalmics Tuckahoe, NY
1997 David T. Rusch, Firestone Optics, Inc. Kansas City, MO
1999 Naomi “Jo” Svochak, Tru-Form Optics, Inc. Euless, TX
2000 Keith Parker, Accu Lens, Inc. Lakewood, CO
2002 Lee Dickerson, ABBA Optical, Inc. Stone Mountain, GA
2004 Daniel Bell, Corneal Design Corp. Gaithersburg, MD
2006 Janice Y. Adams, Valley Contax, Inc. Springfield, OR
2008 Chris Pantle, DAC International, Inc. Muskogee, OK
2010 Al Vaske, Lens Dynamics, Inc. Lakewood, CO
