For eye care professionals, fitting contact lenses for patients with astigmatism can be challenging. However, the challenges can be worth the effort for some patients. Select astigmatic patients may benefit from contact lenses that can offer better vision than eyeglasses. Contact lenses may provide clearer vision and a wider field of view than eye glasses.

Soft contact lenses conform to the shape of the eye; which means that standard soft lenses may not seem effective in correcting astigmatism. But special toric soft contact lenses are available to provide a correction for many types of astigmatism. In fact, even patients who have low astigmatism (0.75DC to 1.00DC) benefit visually when fitted with toric soft lenses instead of with spherical soft lenses. A recent study reported that up to 30% of astigmatic patients reported that they had not tried toric soft lenses because their eye care practitioner did not recommend them. One reason why eye care practitioners shy away from prescribing toric lenses for low astigmatic patients is because they believe that patients can tolerate a constant slight blur from a spherical lens better than a sporadic blur from a rotationally unstable toric lens. So how do eye care professionals ensure the best fit for toric lenses on their astigmatic patients?

The key is that eye care practitioners are consistent with their fits. CooperVision offers eye care practitioner tools such as a ToriTrak Calculator , which can help eye care practitioners fit their astigmatic patients. It is the most accurate method of fitting our toric contact lenses and is designed to eliminate errors in estimating lens rotation. Make sure to register for other fitting tools here and to follow us on Twitter @CooperVision for more information.

Are you interested in building your practice? Make sure to register for the first webinar in a three part series called Your Practice in Focus. This webinar series will be in partnership with ODWire.org and will focus on important topics and trends that will help eye care practitioners build their practices. Make sure to attend all three if you can!

As eye care patients reach the age of 40, their eye care needs will change. Specifically, they will start to realize that they need multifocal lenses or reading glasses. This is because patients over the age of 40 will be affected by an eye condition known as presbyopia. As we wrote about in a previous post on presbyopia, presbyopia is a natural age related loss of the ability to focus on close distance objects. While reading glasses used to be the only option for what patients jokingly refer to as “short arm syndrome,” there are now a variety of multifocal lenses available for presbyopes (patients with presbyopia) to consider.

Multifocal lenses are a great option for presbyopes that don’t want to compromise their active lifestyle . It provides patients the ability to see both near, intermediate, and far distances without the hassle of wearing glasses. Presbyopes can go hiking, play tennis or go biking without having to worry about their vision.

CooperVision offers the broadest range of multifocal contact lenses in terms of product and parameters. Even better, with the introduction of Biofinity Multifocal , our latest and most advanced multifocal lens, CooperVision has combined our Balanced Progressive™ Technology and the Biofinity silicone hydrogel lens material into a lens that offers presbyopes a premium lens. For presbyopes that suffer from dry eye, CooperVision offers a Proclear multifocal lens that is cleared by the FDA for the claim: "may provide improved comfort for contact lens wearers who experience mild discomfort or symptoms relating to dryness during lens wear."

Remember, communication between a patient and an eye care professional is essential in order to determine if a multifocal lens is a good fit. But the first step for eye care professionals and presbyopes is to have an open dialogue about all of the options available. Make sure you start the dialogue about multifocal lenses today!

Low vision is a term that is used for patients that have visual acuities ranging from 20/70 or lower and can’t be fully corrected with glasses, contacts, or surgery. Patients with low vision are different from patients who are blind because low vision patients have some useful sight. However, many low vision patients are not able to perform daily tasks such as reading, driving, or even differentiating colors and shapes from a distance.

There are a variety of causes of low vision. Some of the most common causes of low vision are:

• Macular Degeneration
• Birth Defects
• Diabetes
• Glaucoma
• Cataracts
• Injuries
• Inherited Diseases
• Aging

The loss of vision can be devastating for some patients; especially once they learn that their vision can never be restored. It is important for patients to see an eye care professional if they experience symptoms of vision loss. Some symptoms of vision loss are:

• Not being able to read
• Not being able to write
• Having a hard time watching television
• Not being able to shop
• Being unable to drive
• Having a hard time recognizing faces

Another symptom low vision patients may encounter is known as Charles Bonnet Syndrome. This is when patients see things that are not really there. This is not a mental issue. This is simply the brain trying to replace images that the eye can’t see. These symptoms can often startle or upset patients. However, it is important to remember that patients with low vision have support groups, visual aids, and other resources available to them. For more information on low vision resources, click here.