Interesting poster presentations at Optometry’s Meeting

San Diego-Optometry’s Meeting featured many interesting poster presentations. I wanted to talk about a few of the ones I found of interest.

• Dr. J.R. Chin of Andover, MA, had a poster describing the use of the Acuvue TrueEye (Vistakon) as a bandage lens in conjunction with a suitable artificial tear in the treatment of patients with chronic superficial punctate keratitis or symptomatic dryness not improving with conventional means. Dr. Chin concluded: “With it’s 1-day modality, it’s silicone hydrogel property, and it’s increased ability to hold moisture due to the Hydraclear properties, TrueEye is an easy way to saturate the corneal surface with a potential reservoir of fluid without going to the complexity of fitting a scleral lens.”

• Kristen Hovinga and Dr. Ian Cox of Bausch + Lomb evaluated the inconsistencies of optical designs across the power range for several commercially available and one recently developed multifocal contact lens. The authors concluded: “All the currently marketed multifocal designs that were evaluated in the study contain inconsistencies across the power range, and have the potential to provide variable visual patient outcomes, potentially causing an inconsistent fitting experience for the clinician.” They continued: “The new balafilcon A multifocal product provides the opportunity to enhance patient satisfaction and the predictability of fitting by improving the power profile consistency.”

• A poster by Mohinder Merchia OD, Alexis Vogt, PhD, and Siva Raj from Bausch + Lomb discussed eyecare professional and patient experiences with contact lenses for presbyopia. They surveyed 404 patients in the U.S. along with 75 eyecare practitioners concerning patient satisfaction with contact lenses and assessment of the patient’s daily vision needs. The results of the primary of the satisfaction for multi-focal and monovision wearers was near vision. The authors concluded: “The presbyopic population is challenging to fit due to the different distance, intermediate, and near-vision needs of this patient population. Near and mid-range vision are the greatest fitting challenges for ECPs as well as the greatest areas of disappointment for patients.”

• Drs. Alexandra Espejo and Kimberly Reed of NOVA presented a case series of four patients who presented to the clinic with viral eye disease and were successfully treated with ganciclovir ophthalmic gel off label. While ganciclovir gel (Zirgan, Bausch + Lomb) FDA labeled use is for the treatment of acute herpetic keratitis (dendritic ulcers), the authors concluded: “The off-label use of ganciclovir 0.15% appears to be a viable treatment modality to shorten disease duration and ameliorate the discomfort of acute viral eye disease.”ODT