Silicone Hydrogel Contacts - the Next Generation of Lenses

Silicone hydrogel is now the extended wear contact lens material of choice for many eye care practitioners. The clinical success experienced with the use of silicone hydrogels over the last six years has created an equally high performance expectation for recent lens designs aimed at 7-day, flex or daily-wear schedules.

From those who benefit from the lenses as the only kind they can successfully wear, to those who think they have discovered the "Holy Grail" of 30 nights' continuous wear, the silicone hydrogel material is the largest contact lens development in 30 years and for the past five, the use of continuous wear contact lenses has begun to make a genuine impact on patients' daily routines.

Silicone hydrogel lenses accounted for 29% of new fits of soft contact lenses in the United States during the first quarter 2005, compared to 17% the year before, according to Health Products Research. Many eye care practitioners are still uncomfortable prescribing a lens for that length of time for continuous wear. However, even the most obedient patient will occasionally fall asleep while wearing their lenses.

Silicone Hydrogel Lenses Linked With Improved Eye Health

The British Journal of Ophthalmology reported in its April 2005 edition that new study results reveal that it's much safer for people to wear contact lenses made of silicone hydrogel if they plan to sleep in the lenses. Other journals also confirm the general safety of silicone hydrogel material for contact lens wearers.

Silicone hydrogels are the most innovative advance in contact lenses in recent years. Kyoichi Tanaka and four others began the development of these lenses almost thirty years ago when they described copolymerizing silicone with hydrophilic monomer to make a soft contact lens. The finished product hit the U.S. market in the late 1990s. Presently four silicone hydrogels are available: CIBA Vision's Night & Day, O² Optix, Bausch & Lomb's Pure Vision and Vistakon's Acuvue Advance.

The Future Of Toric Contact Lenses Lies In Silicone Hydrogels

In a survey of eye care practitioners conducted between November and December of 2005 by Baird U.S. Equity Research, when asked which toric lens they expected to be fitting as their soft disposable toric contact lens of choice one year from the time the survey was taken, 74% of respondents indicated that they would be using silicone hydrogel.

Contact Lens Safety

The cornea is one of only two parts of the human body that requires no blood vessels, since it obtains oxygen directly from the air. Lack of oxygen, irritation or other factors could, however, result in an abnormal growth of blood vessels on the cornea. Safety procedures should be strictly followed since corneal health is critical in people who wear contact lenses.