One result of patient concern with ocular and systemic health is that doctors are fitting more daily disposable contact lenses now more than ever1. With nearly three dozen2 spherical daily disposable lenses available, they also have more options now than ever.
Today’s robust portfolio of daily disposables benefits doctors and patients alike yet may be overwhelming. It can result in choice paralysis, a term used when an overabundance of choices confounds the chooser. The copious supply of lens choices may lead doctors to avoid learning about emerging lenses. As a result, many practitioners fall into the trap of prescribing the same daily disposable lenses, regardless of patient needs.
An understanding of the daily disposable contact lenses that have emerged onto the market over the past several years can combat choice paralysis. Listed below is a sample of some of the newest daily disposable lenses and their unique properties that set them apart from other dailies.
Alcon’s Water Gradient and SMARTSURFACE™ Technologies
In 2014 Alcon launched its Daily Total 1® daily disposable contact lens in the US. It was the first contact lens with Water Gradient Technology. The delefilcon A core contains a hydrophobic silica-based material, which has a water content of 33%. The outer layer of the lens is hydrophilic with a water content that ranges from 80% water in its inner-most layer, to nearly 100% water on the outer-most surface of the lens. This creates a moist, comfortable lens surface that has a high degree of lubricity.3
In 2020 Alcon launched a second Water Gradient lens, Precision1®. Its design is similar to the Dailies Total 1® with a water content of 51% at its core and >80% at its surface. In addition, the Precision1® contact lens utilizes Alcon’s proprietary SMARTSURFACE® technology. SMARTSURFACE® is a permanent, micro-thin, high-performance layer of moisture at the lens surface that helps support a stable tear film to deliver lasting visual performance from morning to night.4
Bausch + Lomb’s Probalance™ Technology
Launched in the Summer of 2020, Bausch + Lomb introduced us to Probalance™ Technology with its new Infuse lens. Inspired by Ocular Surface Society’s Dews II report, Probalance™ Technology helps reduce the symptoms of dryness by maintaining ocular surface homeostasis. Using a proprietary combination of erthritol, glycerin and potassium—in addition to moisturizers—Probalance™ Technology helps patients maintain tear film integrity throughout the day and retains 96% of its moisture for a full 16 hours.5
CooperVision’s Smart Silicone™ Technology
With the launch of the MyDay® sphere lens in 2015, CooperVision introduced Smart Silicone™ chemistry to US consumers. Smart Silicone™ optimizes oxygen permeability by using only a small amount of silicon—just 4.4% of the total lens material—thus leaving more room in the lens for built-in channels of comfort-enhancing moisture. It has a low modulus for a silicon hydrogel, 0.4 MPa, making it soft like a hydrogel lens, but durable and more oxygen permeable like a SiHy.6
Johnson & Johnson’s HydraLuxe™ Technology
No stranger to innovation, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care launched ACUVUE OASYS® Brand Contact Lenses 1-Day with Hydraluxe™ Technology. This unique technology is designed to help patients comfortably wear lenses throughout the day and into the evening. It contains a tear-infused material that compliments the natural tear film with an enhanced network of tear-like molecules, that integrates with contact lens wearers’ own tear film each day.7
Eye care providers are entrusted with caring for patients’ eye care needs. That includes knowing and understanding new contact lenses that emerge onto the market and how to use their unique properties to the fullest benefit.
- https://www.clspectrum.com/issues/2020/january-2020/contact-lenses-2019
- Lenslog.com data
- Alcon Press Release, August 19, 2015
- Alcon Press Release, August 19, 2019
- Bausch + Lomb Press Release, August 17, 2020
- CooperVision Press Release, June 25, 2015
- Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Press Release, September 15, 2015