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Scleral lenses present growth market for ODs

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LAS VEGAS – A survey of the board of the Gas Permeable Lens Institute indicated that scleral lenses have the greatest potential for growth in the contact lens market, according to a speaker here at Vision Expo West.

Clarke Newman, OD, FAAO, a member of the Gas Permeable Lens Institute (GPLI) board, told attendees at the Global Contact Lens Forum that the incidence of myopia in the U.S. has increased to 42%, according to the Brien Holden Vision Institute.

“The same number of people are wearing contact lenses, but the number of myopes is higher,” he said.

Newman said that, overall, gas-permeable (GP) lens prescribing in the U.S. was down from 9% to 6% in 2012, but GP button sales have increased 13.7% from 2013 to 2014.

The rate of myopia in South Korea among those at least 18 years old is 98.6%, he said.

“This is the new frontier,” Newman said. “These buttons are all going to Asia because they’re doing myopia control, orthokeratology and corneal reshaping technology.”

Newman said according to Bausch + Lomb, scleral lens button sales increased 33% in 2014 over 2013.

“We’re moving away from corneal contact lenses to scleral contacts and lenses designed to reduce myopia,” he said. “Ninety-five percent of my patients wear contacts; over half are GP and over half of those are sclerals.”

Newman said that multifocal lenses sometimes fail over time because of residual cylinder. GPs offer the ability to correct cylinder and provide multifocal correction.

Forty-six percent of the myopia control performed in the U.S. is done with GP ortho-K, he said.

“We need to be thinking what we’re going to be doing 5 years from now,” Newman said. “We need to claim myopia control. If we don’t seize this, someone else will. GPs are one of the ways to do that.

“Scleral lens prescribing for ectasia and irregular corneas is driving the future of GP prescribing, as is ortho-K, primarily for myopia control, and multifocals,” he continued.

He also pointed to the growing potential of using scleral lenses for toric correction, sports application and in hybrid lenses. – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO

Disclosures: Newman is a consultant for Alcon, Allergan, AMO, Bausch + Lomb, CPLI and EyePrint PRO. He is also a member of the GPLI board.