Tinted contact lenses may give athletes a competitive edge

The FDA cleared Bausch & Lomb’s Nike Maxsight sport-tinted contact lens for daily wear. The lens is designed to enhance visual performance for athletes.

Nike and Bausch & Lomb have teamed up to create a tinted contact lens designed to help athletes sharpen their game.

The Nike Maxsight lens uses Bausch & Lomb’s patented Light Architecture optics to selectively filter specific wavelengths of light within the visible spectrum to enhance key visual elements such as a ball or background while reducing sun glare.

The lens design allows the wearer to see an object, such as a ball, with greater clarity than with the naked eye, according to a B&L press release.

The Maxsight lens is expected to be available in the United States and Europe later this summer in two tints. A gray-green tinted lens was designed for sports played in bright sunlight, such as golf, football, running and rugby. An amber-tinted lens was designed for fast-moving ball sports such as soccer, tennis, baseball and softball, according to the company.

The lens was designed with athletes in mind, but B&L spokesman Tor Constantino said anyone who participates in an outdoor activity can benefit from the lenses.

“It’s a lens that can enhance contrast in whatever sort of outdoor recreation or competitive activity you may want to pursue,” he said.

Block that light

Bill Reindel, OD, director of scientific and clinical affairs for Bausch & Lomb, said athletic goods manufacturer Nike has been exploring enhancing vision for athletes for roughly 8 years. The collaboration between Nike and B&L started 3 years ago.

“Nike had been working on technology to adjust spectral wavelengths of light to help athletes see sports better,” he said. “They approached Bausch & Lomb in terms of a partnership to co-develop contact lenses for enhancing athletes’ vision.”

Researchers studied the reflections of light that come from common objects in outdoor sporting environments such as balls and grass, and from backgrounds such as the sky, and evaluated a variety of tints to filter out specific wavelengths of light and enhance contrast of images, Dr. Reindel explained.

“From this research two tints were developed, Grey-Green and Amber,” he said.

The gray-green lens allows transmission of 36% of light, and the amber lens 50%, he said.

“There is a general reduction of the light level similar to what one would experience with sunglasses,” he said. “This reduces the distracting sun glare that can occur during various outdoor activities.”

There is a difference between sunglasses and these lenses, however. Sunglasses are typically made with a neutral density filter, so they do not alter the spectrum of light transmitted by the lens; they suppress all light equally, Dr. Reindel explained.

“The spectral wavelengths that pass through the lens are very specific, and it was important for us to select a lens material that allowed us to have a very precise control of the tints in the two lens options,” Dr. Reindel said. “Of the various material platforms Bausch & Lomb has, we selected polymacon because it allows a very accurate control for producing the patented Light Architecture optics.”

Polymacon is a low-water, non-ionic lens material, which is important to outdoor athletes as well because the lens material is more resistant to deposits and dehydration, he added.

Even though the lenses filter out a high percentage of blue and ultraviolet light, they are not a substitute for UV-protection sunglasses, Mr. Constantino pointed out.

Field of play

“Nike maintains that if you have a body you’re an athlete,” Dr. Reindel said. “They recognize, and we recognize, that this is a technology that will have a broad base of appeal, not just for the professional athlete.”

The tint of the Maxsight lens extends from edge to edge across the entire diameter, according to Dr. Reindel.

“This helps reduce any type of light leakage around the edges of the lens and eliminates this as a potential source of glare,” he said.

The edge-to-edge tint may offer another competitive advantage, Dr. Reindel suggested.

“One of the findings that came out in some of the research is that many athletes like the tint going from edge to edge because it gives them an intimidation factor,” he said. “They like the way their eyes look because they help to intimidate their opponents and throw the competitor off their mark.”

The tints are introduced to the lens through an immersion process, so the color is taken up throughout the matrix of the lens, giving Bausch & Lomb control of the spectral curves across the power range, he said.

The Maxsight lens also has a thickness profile that helps make the lenses easier to insert and remove at the field of play.

“A majority of the patients may be non-contact lens wearers who are solely looking at this lens to give them a competitive edge,” Dr. Reindel said.

The lens is available in a range of powers from +4 D to –9 D, and it is available in plano for patients who do not need refractive correction.

The lens has an equivalent base curve of 8.8 mm, and the diameter is 14.3 mm, so it can be fit like a standard soft contact lens, Dr. Reindel said.

Clinical evaluations

Bausch & Lomb recently completed a study of the Grey-Green Maxsight lens in more than 100 participants. Investigators enrolled a variety of types of athletes who participated in various outdoor activities while wearing contact lenses.

“Patients wore clear lenses for 2 weeks and the Maxsight lenses for 2 weeks,” Dr. Reindel said. “The order in which they wore the lenses was randomized.

The participants were asked to keep detailed records of their experiences with the lenses in daily outdoor lighting conditions.

Analysis of the athletes’ ratings showed that the Maxsight lens reduced the amount of glare and stray light in comparison to the clear lenses while enhancing contrast, Dr. Reindel explained.

“Visual comfort scores [with the Maxsight] were significantly higher than clear contact lenses, and patients agreed that participation in sports was enjoyable to a higher degree,” he said. “Their visual system is not as likely to be stressed in the outdoor environment, and this helps them feel more relaxed and perform better in all levels of competition.”

The Maxsight is a monthly replacement lens that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for daily wear. According to a press release, Bausch & Lomb will manufacture the lens and market it to eye care professionals, and Nike will market it to consumers.

The suggested retail price will be about $55 for a box of six lenses, according to the company.

For Your Information:

• Bill Reindel, OD, director of scientific and clinical affairs for Bausch & Lomb, can be reached at 1400 N. Goodman St., Rochester, NY 14609; e-mail: wreindel@bausch.com.
• Tor Constantino, a Bausch & Lomb spokesperson, can be reached at 1400 N. Goodman St., Rochester, NY 14609; 585-338-5212; fax: 585-338-0898; e-mail: tor_constantino@bausch.com.

• Bausch & Lomb, maker of the Nike Maxsight, can be reached at 1400 N. Goodman St., Rochester, NY 14609. Eye care professionals who want more information on Maxsight or want to carry the product can call 800-348-2743; e-mail: maxsight@bausch.com.

• Daniele Cruz is an OSN Staff Writer who covers all aspects of ophthalmology.