Though nothing beats daily disposable contacts for convenience, only about 10 to 15 percent of contact lens wearers in the United States today choose daily disposables.

In this month’s issue of Contact Lens Spectrum, Renee Reeder, OD, provides a summary of the history of daily disposable contacts and an update of the current status of these lenses. Dr. Reeder is an associate professor and the chief of the Cornea Center for Clinical Excellence at the Illinois College of Optometry (Chicago, Ill.).

Here are a few of the key points about daily disposable contact lenses, according to Dr. Reeder:

• The first daily disposable contacts approved for use in the U.S. were 1-Day Acuvue lenses (Johnson & Johnson / Vistakon), which were introduced in 1994.

• Today there are at least eight brands of daily disposable lenses, including toric lenses that correct astigmatism.

• Many daily disposable lenses block UV light and thereby protect your eyes from the sun’s harmful UV rays.

• Though daily disposable lenses are perceived as expensive, they eliminate the need for contact lens solution, which helps lower their overall cost.

• Though only about 10 to 15 percent of contact lens wearers in the U.S. choose daily disposable lenses, the single-use lenses are worn by 50 percent of contact lens wearers in Japan and by more than 50 percent of wearers in the Scandinavian markets.

• Daily disposable lenses may reduce the risk of contact lens-related eye infections, including fungal eye infections and infections caused by Acanthamoeba.

• Daily disposable contacts may be more comfortable to wear during allergy season, compared with 2-week and monthly replacement lenses.

• Studies show daily disposable contact lens wearers tend to replace their lenses on schedule more frequently than people who wear 2-week and monthly replacement lenses.

Regarding the cost of contact lenses, a one-year supply of daily disposable lenses can be purchased online (with a valid contact lens prescription) for $320 to $520, Dr. Reeder says.

What are the drawbacks of daily disposable lenses?  Certain types of soft contact lenses, including color contacts and theatrical contact lenses, are not available in the daily disposable modality.

A study published in a recent issue of Eye & Contact Lens indicates that children ages 8 to 12 are able to successfully wear daily disposable contacts and that most children in the study preferred wearing contact lenses to wearing eyeglasses.

The three-month study was conducted in Singapore, following a protocol similar to the recent Contact Lenses in Pediatrics (CLIP) study in the United States that found similar results among teenagers.

Participants in the study were fit with 1-Day Acuvue and 1-Day Acuvue for Astigmatism disposable contacts. All children were nearsighted (with or without astigmatism) and had not worn contact lenses prior to the study.

Of the 59 children enrolled, 53 (90 percent) completed the study successfully. At the end of the three-month study period, most of the children and their parents reported preferring the contact lenses to eyeglasses for a variety of reasons, including vision, comfort and appearance.

No eye infections occurred during the study, and the only adverse event noted was the development of a chalazion in one child’s eyelid.

(Many eye doctors recommend daily disposable contacts for children who want to wear contact lenses because the single-use lenses eliminate the need for daily lens care and contact lens solutions.)

Eye & Contact Lens is the official journal of the Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmologists.

Silicone hydrogel contact lenses, even more than conventional soft contacts, require a rubbing step when cleaning and disinfecting the lenses with “no-rub” contact lens solutions, says a prominent contact lens specialist.

Michael A. Ward, MMSc, FAAO, instructor in ophthalmology at Emory University School of Medicine (Atlanta, Ga.) and director of Emory Eye Center’s Contact Lens Service, says adding the manual cleaning step maximizes comfort, improves vision and reduces the risk of contact lens-related eye infections.

Researchers are finding that one-step (”no-rub”) contact lens solutions often do not completely remove environmental debris, skin oils and make-up from the surface of contact lenses. These lens deposits can cause eye discomfort and vision problems, and may also decrease the effectiveness of lens disinfectants and lead to serious problems, including bacterial and fungal eye infections and Acanthamoeba keratitis.

Silicone hydrogel lenses, which allow more oxygen to reach the cornea than regular soft contacts, are as likely as regular soft lenses to accumulate lens deposits if they are not properly cleaned and disinfected after each wearing period.

If patients at Emory Contact Lens Service are not compliant with a rub-and-rinse lens care regimen and lens deposits are noted, switching to a hydrogen peroxide-based lens care system often solves the problem, Ward told online newsletter Contact Lenses Today (Oct 22).

Another option for people who are prone to contact lens deposits or fail to care for their lenses properly is to switch to daily disposable contacts, which are designed to be discarded after a single use.

This week, Unilens Vision Inc. (Largo, Fla.) launched C-VUE Advanced Toric Multifocal contact lenses. These specialty lenses correct both astigmatism and presbyopia.

According to the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), approximately 36 percent of Americans ages 20 and older have astigmatism. Presbyopia is an age-related vision problem that affects virtually everyone some time after age 40.

Eye doctors can customize the new C-VUE Advanced Toric Multifocal lenses for their patients by specifying astigmatic and multifocal powers, multifocal zone size, lens diameter, base curve and more. The monthly disposable contact lenses also feature advanced hydration properties for all-day comfort, according to the company.

Unilens Vision Inc. offers a free trial program and a 120-day performance guarantee. The lenses are available exclusively from independent eye care professionals. Read more at www.unilens.com.