Eyedolatry: discontinued contact lenses

Discontinued Contact Lenses: Biomedics and Clariti Multifocal

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Discontinued Contact Lens Update

Acuvue 1 Day Astigmatism discontinued 8:16 PM

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More Hydrogel Contact Lenses Discontinued at CooperVision

CooperVision continues to streamline their portfolio of available contact lens products by dropping older low oxygen permeable hydrogel lenses in favor of newer technology. Beginning in April, here are the changes in product availability:

Discontinued Trials, Boxes still Available
No trials means that doctors cannot start new fits for this lens, and they cannot order replacements for lost or torn lenses. Usually discontinuing trials is a precursor to discontinuing the lens itself as a way to pull it off the market less abruptly.

Biomedics XC (also called UltraFlex XC)

Frequency 55 Toric

Completely Discontinued Lenses (trials and boxes)

Biomedics 38 and Biomedics 55

At this time Biomedics Premier (Aspheric) IS still available

Frequency 55 Sphere

At this time Frequency 55 Aspheric IS still available.

Vertex Sphere

Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis

My lens is discontinued, but I've never been able to wear other lenses. What can I do?

A certain number of contact lens wearers react very poorly to the higher oxygen silicone hydrogel materials used in most contact lenses today. The silicone used in the lenses to make them more breathable and healthier for the cornea can irritate some people's eyes, causing redness or even an allergic reaction like Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis. If you still wear the lenses discontinued above, there's a good chance the only reason you still wear that lens is because you have had issues trying to switch. If you are intolerant to silicone lenses, there are still a number of silicone-free hydrogel products on the market. CooperVision's Proclear line is still considered a vital part of their lens portfolio; both monthly wear and daily disposable options are available in the Proclear material. Many daily disposable lenses use hydrogel materials: Dailies Aqua Comfort Plus, and Acuvue 1 Day Moist for example. Two companies still make 2 week disposable hydrogel lenses like Biomedics and Vertex: Bausch and Lomb's Soflens 38 and Johsnon & Johnson's Acuvue 2 are still available in a 2 week modality. Soflens also comes in both astigmatism and multifocal options (though the optics on the multifocal are disappointing to most -- I'd upgrade to Acuvue 1 Day Moist Multifocal for the vision if you need a silicone-free multifocal contact lens).

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CooperVision Discontinues Several Hydrogel Contact Lenses

biomedics discontinued 7:00 AM

The world is moving to either single use or silicone hydrogel contact lenses, and CooperVision acknowledged that trend recently by announcing plans to discontinue some of its older hydrogel contact lens options. They cited a major movement in contact lens fitting trends in the first few months of 2014: 44% of hydrogel lens wearers were refit to silicone hydrogel lenses and 44% of multiple wear lens wearers were refit into daily disposables (data from CooperVision). With so many options for better health and better comfort, the days of old hydrogrel lenses seem to be numbered with multiple companies restructuring their product lineups to ditch old materials in favor of healthier options.

I was surprised to see Proclear EP as a discontinued lens since I do find it effective for very early presbyopia, but full multifocal contact lenses are getting better at limiting distance distortion, and using a silicone hydrogel lens like Biofinity MF with low adds will give the added benefit of monthly lens wear and higher oxygen transmissibility. via

The three lenses that are being discontinued are Biomedics 55 UV, Biomedics 38, and Proclear EP. As of 12/31/2014 trial lenses will no longer be available for order, and no boxes will be available to purchase in any of these lens products as of 10/31/2015. Here are the recommended refit options for the products being discontinued:

Biomedics 55 UV and Biomedics 38 (also called Sofmed or Ultraflex):

to keep with 2 week disposal, refit to Avaira
to change to monthly disposal, refit to Biofinity
upgrade to daily disposable

Proclear EP (also called Biomedics EP):

change to monthly replacement Biofinity MF with low add
upgrade to daily disposable multifocal in low add

Lenses that are not included in the slated discontinuation plans include Biomedics XC, Vertex Toric, and Frequency 55 (Encore Premium). These hydrogel lenses will likely have a limited future based on the trends CooperVision is citing as the cause of their decision since these lenses are also older hydrogel materials. Additionally all of those above products are not even listed on the CooperVision website as current products except by going to an "additional lenses" section. It's not a bad idea to consider refitting patients wearing CooperVision's other older hydrogel lens materials as well to be proactive to possible changes in the near future. If you have a patient with silicone hydrogel intolerance, Proclear Compatibles and Proclear 1-Day offer great alternatives (and they are listed on CooperVision's site as part of their product family which makes me feel comfortable that there are no plans to remove these lenses in the near future).

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