Johnson & Johnson Vision launches Acuvue Oasys Max 1-DAY and Acuvue Oasys Max 1-Day Multifocal

Johnson & Johnson Vision has launched the Acuvue Oasys Max 1-Day and Acuvue Oasys Max 1-Day Multifocal.

The launch, held on 2 February at the Icebox in London, saw a presentation on the science behind the new innovations and a panel discussion with eye care practitioners who have already been fitting the lens in practice.

Johnson & Johnson Vision professional affairs consultants, Neelam Patel, Robyn Marsden, and Marie-Therese Hall, presented three interactive demonstrations, giving event attendees an insight into the benefits of the contact lens.

The new contact lenses feature three key technologies: Johnson & Johnson Vision’s Pupil Optimised Design, along with TearStable Technology and OptiBlue Light Filter.

James Haden, sales director for Johnson & Johnson Vision, explained: “What we’ve really focused on is that patient-centric opportunity. Today we’re all living busy, digital lives and increasingly we’re seeing more and more people who, at the end of the day, have tired, dry eyes.”

“With those technologies we’re seeing a marked difference in patients coming back to us and saying: ‘I’m getting less fatigue and less tiredness,’” he said.

Dr John Buch, senior principal research optometrist for Johnson & Johnson Vision, explained that the company developed a new manufacturing process for the Acuvue Oasys Max 1-Day contact lenses.

“We have a wetting agent inside of our contact lenses that helps make it more tear-like, but what this manufacturing process allows us to do is distribute that more easily throughout the matrix of the contact lens,” he explained. “By doing that we know the lens itself can retain more water, evaporates less, and we have evidence that it will help prolong a more stable tear film.”

The manufacturing process also enabled the company to incorporate the blue-light filtering technology.

The launch includes both a single vision and multifocal lens, which Haden said enables practitioners to have a full suite of options to “keep patients right through their journey as they’re thinking about that optical support”

Karen Chambers, contact lens optician at Gregory & Seeley, explained that the new contact lenses have a “wow-factor.”

The practice has a high demographic of multifocal patients, Chambers shared, explaining that: “Putting in that lens and driving at night has been a revelation for those patients.”

The panel: practice experience

The event saw a panel discussion involving two eye care professionals who have been fitting the contact lens in practice and were able to share their experience of the new lenses.

Giving an insight into her experience in practice, Chambers told attendees: “Since I had the lens in October time, the light has gone down.”

During this time, multifocal wearers might experience some challenges as their vision seems softer in the winter, or where they are working in lower levels of lighting.

“I think this lens has been a gamechanger from that point of view,” Chambers said, adding that the biggest feedback has been around the benefits of the contact lenses when driving at night.

Ritesh Dhorajiwala, director at Fulham Sight & Hear Care, explained that “everyone is so clued-up about blue light.”

“The majority of my contact lens patients are dead-set that they don’t want to wear glasses,” he shared, highlighting the benefits of offering them a contact lens that filters blue light, making it easier for them to look at a computer screen.

Having had personal experience of using the lens himself, he said: “Even I notice the difference. I think it’s when we notice a difference wearing the product and we talk to patients about it – that makes the biggest difference.”

When engaging the rest of the practice team, both eye care professionals recommended keeping it simple.

Chambers shared: “It’s two things. Less evaporation – less dehydration so they can wear the lenses for longer, especially with dry eye, and the night time driving. Even in the office, I would say that my eyes are more relaxed at the end of the day.”

Dhorajiwala agreed: “It’s about learning those trigger words. You can break it down to: blue light filter, longer wear, and better when you’re driving.”

When providing patients with a trial of the contact lenses, Chambers explained that she advises them of the cost of the new lenses, saying: “You have to see the value for money.”

The practice has not seen any negative responses to the cost of the lenses, she noted.

Describing an analogy she uses to introduce the lens technology to the patients, Chambers explains how, if the tear film can’t support a contact lens, “it’s going to go from a plum to a prune. This lens is not going to do that. It’s going to have much less evaporation, it’s not going to cause disruption in the tear films, and it’s not going to be the prune – it will be the plum.”