Now that Acuvue recently introduced the first silicone hydrogel daily disposable contact lens approved by the FDA, wearers likely will want to know if benefits merit the extra cost of the lens material.

If you are on a budget, you may need to consider costs versus benefits of Acuvue's 1-Day TruEye daily disposable contact lenses.

Acuvue’s 1-Day TruEye daily disposables are made of what the company describes as a “breathable” type of silicone hydrogel contact lens material known as narafilcon B.

Before Acuvue offered silicone hydrogel dailies, these types of contact lenses were replaced only at intervals ranging from weekly to monthly.

But despite benefits such as extra comfort, some eye care practitioners say daily disposable silicone hydrogel contact lenses are roughly twice as expensive as other types.

And because the lenses are disposed of daily, the comfort aspect may not be as much of a factor as it is with lenses that have longer replacement schedules.

“Silicone hydrogel lenses may be overkill for daily disposables,” said Brian Chou, OD, a partner at Carmel Mountain Vision Care — a group optometric practice in San Diego.

But Larry K. Wan, OD, of Family EyeCare Center in Campbell, Calif., disagrees.

“The TruEyes silicone hydrogel contact lens provides five times more oxygen to the eye than other one-day, single-use lenses, and has the highest level of UV protection,” Wan told Contact Lens Headlines. “It may be the most comfortable and trouble-free lens option available.”

But Chou said he is inclined to wait and see if the new silicone hydrogel daily genuinely is cost effective for his patients.

“If there are two lenses that perform equivalently well but one lens is half the cost, I will prescribe the lower cost lens to serve the patient’s best interests,” Chou said.

Depending on the geographic market, Wan said TruEyes contact lenses cost about $15 to $17 more per 90-lens box than other products on the market. He said this expenditure amounts to about $1.80 per day for wearers.

“This is about the same as what a pair of high-quality eyeglasses would cost you,” Wan said. “For many patients, this is a tremendous value for the quality.”

Vistakon has launched 1-Day Acuvue TruEye daily disposable contacts, made of narafilcon B, a silicone hydrogel material just approved by the FDA.

Silicone hydrogel contact lenses are known for their ability to allow oxygen to reach the eye; this, combined with the daily disposable modality, provides a potentially high level of eye health to contact lens wearers.

The lenses also contain Hydraclear 1, which supplies a moisture-rich wetting agent to help maintain comfort throughout the day.

In a 94-subject study, after one month people wearing 1-Day Acuvue TruEye showed no significant effect of the wear on the surface of their eyes, compared with non-contact lens wearers, in five of six contact lens-related measures associated with eye health. The lenses also provided high comfort levels all day, comparable to wearing no lenses.

1-Day Acuvue TruEye lenses also offer the highest level of UV protection in a contact lens, according to Vistakon, which is a division of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care.

“Any contact lens you want. Anywhere in the world.”

This is the promise that CooperVision and Armed Forces Eyewear are making to members of the U.S. military on a new website at ArmedForcesContactLenses.com. (Armed Forces Eyewear is a service mark of Frames Direct, an online eyewear retailer.)

The site contains patient information about CooperVision’s portfolio of contact lenses, as well as rebate and free trial offers. And it provides access to the Armed Forces Eyewear site where patients can order the lenses and get guaranteed delivery, wherever they may be.

A percentage of each purchase of CooperVision contacts will be donated to the Army and Air Force Exchange Service fund, which supports youth services, recreation centers, and other morale and welfare programs for the military community.

A CooperVision official said in a release that the company’s wide range of contact lenses enables military eye care professionals to offer “the best fit and option for each patient.”

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.