July 27, 2009
• Optical designs improve focus on nearby objects
• Next-generation lenses beat monovision technique
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Contact-lens wearers say freedom from eyeglasses is a great feeling, one they want to keep. Optometrists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Optometry are responding with prescriptions for next-generation multifocal contact lenses.
The new lenses treat presbyopia, a gradual loss of the ability to focus on nearby objects. Bifocal glasses can help, but for those who wear contacts, presbyopia has been an annoying part of aging, said Adam Gordon, O.D., M.P.H., an associate professor in the School of Optometry.
"There's a huge number of people who don't want to give up contacts due to presbyopia, or don't want to wear reading glasses over their contact lenses," Gordon said. He directs the Cornea and Contact Lens Clinic at UAB Eye Care, the clinical and retail operation of the School of Optometry.
The new multifocal lenses are made with silicone hydrogel polymer, a more breathable and safer material than older soft-lens polymers, Gordon said. Cutting-edge laser technology is used to manufacture each lens' complex optical designs, which improve focus on nearby objects.
UAB Eye Care doctors are conducting pre-market evaluations of new designs and materials, so patients in the Cornea and Contact Lens Clinic may receive a prescription for the next-generation lenses before they're available to eye doctors nationally. Additionally, UAB optometry faculty, interns and residents are gaining experience with the new technology and receiving patient feedback, Gordon said.
A comprehensive eye exam can spot the early signs of presbyopia. In addition to treating the condition with eyeglass prescriptions, optometrists traditionally have relied on a corrective technique called monovision - that is, prescribing one contact lens for distance vision and another contact lens for reading in the same patient. Monovision is essentially using non-matched lenses to improve sight.
"Before multifocals, monovision worked very well for 50 years or more, but it created compromises in vision that some people could never get used to," Gordon said. "In monovision, the two eyes are always doing something different: one eye is always blurry and the brain has to figure out which eye it should pay the most attention to."
The new multifocal lenses require fewer brain-sight adjustments and appear to improve vision for a large number of contact wearers. "They are a closer simulation of the way natural vision works and the way eyes are designed to focus," Gordon said.
The new lenses are manufactured to be multipurpose, meaning they can be used to correct an array of vision problems, not just presbyopia. To schedule an appointment at UAB Eye Care, call 205-975-2020 or click here.
The UAB School of Optometry
The UAB School of Optometry is recognized nationally for its significant contributions to eye and vision-care knowledge and vision science. Founded in 1969, the school is the only institution in Alabama to offer the four-year doctor of optometry degree.