• Contamac Ltd. has launched a new company website, www.contamac.com, designed to update corporate branding, enhance and expand targeted user data, facilitate and measure navigation of the site and improve access to published articles and product information.

• VSP Vision Care and Vistakon announced an exclusive guarantee on Acuvue Brand Contact Lenses for VSP members, beginning May 1. Members with contact lens coverage can try Acuvue Brand Contact Lenses with little or no financial risk through their VSP provider. If not completely satisfied, up to $60 of their benefit will be reinstated as long as their eye care professional contacts VSP within 30 days of the start of the trial. Members can use their reinstated benefit toward glasses or a replacement of their current contact lenses. For more information, visit www.specialoffers.vsp.com/acuvue.

• Wills Eye Institute and Thomas Jefferson University announce the creation of the Wills Vision Research Center at Jefferson, a new vision research center based in Philadelphia and designed to foster regional, national and global collaborations among clinicians and researchers. The new center will use a multidisciplinary team approach, drawing from 15 scientific disciplines in the fields of ophthalmology, oncology, pathology, neurology and endocrinology, to name a few. Research projects in development include understanding the genetics of congenital abnormalities, preventing neurodegenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, new treatments for cancer in the visual system and the effects of diabetes on visual health. For more information, visit www.willseye.org.

Best Practices Revealed
Sponsored by CIBA Vision and Essilor, the Management & Business Academy (MBA), has released two updated comprehensive management reports detailing the best practices in contact lens and spectacle lens management. This report has been endorsed by the American Optometric Association.

The reports discuss critical management topics for each device category, provide current optometric practice performance benchmarks, project revenue gains from process improvements and provide concrete management techniques to increase revenue and patient satisfaction.

The 28-page “Best Practices of Contact Lens Management” report includes sections on upgrading product mix, retail pricing and gross profit margin maximization, transaction cost reduction, managing in-office inventory, patient recall and annual supply sales strategies, and increasing the contact lens wearer base. The second report, entitled “Best Practices of Spectacle Lens Management,” is also available. Both reports can be downloaded at www.mba-ce.com.

Acculens Expands Parameters
Acculens announced the release of extended parameters in its Maxim Scleral lens. The addition of the new 17.5 lens will allow eye care practitioners to manage severe keratoconus, excessively steep bulging transplants and pellucid patients.

The Maxim Scleral lens is indicated for the management of corneal distortion and dry eyes, and is available in custom parameters manufactured in Boston XO2. For more information, www.acculens.com.

Non-Compliance Prevalent with CL Wearers
New data from a Vistakon-sponsored study found contact lens wearers to be significantly non-compliant in virtually all active steps involved in soft contact lens wear—including hand washing, case hygiene, lens disinfection and following lens replacement schedules.

Nearly half of survey respondents admitted to not washing their hands with soap prior to insertion (44%) and removal (49%). Although 75% reported emptying disinfecting solution from the lens case in the morning, only 46% reported filling the lens case with fresh solution instead.

Lens wearers were also found non-compliance in storage case replacement. The median interval for intended and actual replacement of the lens storage case was four to six months; however, 48% of survey respondents replace the storage case annually or less often. The study also found low compliance with practitioner-recommended lens replacement schedules. Study findings are published in Contact Lens & Anterior Eye.