New Ultra contact lenses 'created for the digital age'

Bausch & Lomb is launching Ultra contact lenses into the UK market in July. The company is emphasising that the new contact lenses have been specially created for the digital age.

‘Bausch & Lomb Ultra with MoistureSeal’ technology is a new monthly silicone hydrogel material that has been designed to achieve the best balance possible for eye health, wettability, vision, comfort and handling for the company’s contact lens wearers.

A unique manufacturing process comprising two distinct phases of polymerisation is involved in the manufacture of the new contact lenses.

In the first phase, three proprietary silicone chains form a matrix, which provides a high Dk/t of 163 and a low modulus. In the second time-delayed phase, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), which is hydrophilic, is grown in and around the silicone matrix.

This creates a high volume of permanently embedded PVP, allowing a high water content of 46% within the lens, whilst keeping moisture on the surface of the contact lens.

Bausch & Lomb said that the launch of the new contact lenses has been prompted “by the explosion in the use of digital devices over the last few years which correlates with many of the difficulties faced by today’s contact lens wearers.”

Studies show that, on average, people spend seven hours a day using such technology. A 2013 study highlighted that high computer usage, along with dryness, was named as the number one contributing factor to contact lens drop-off.

Bausch & Lomb Ultra’s senior principal scientist of product development, Daniel J Hook, said: “Ultra is the go-to lens. It’s a lens that’s chosen right out of the gate as the lens to start with for patients.”

For more information, visit the Bausch & Lomb website.