Contact Lens Evidence-Based Academic Reports (CLEAR)

Wearer Experience and Eye Care Professional Acceptance with a 1 Day Multifocal Contact Lens

“…This experience agrees with advice highlighted in the BCLA CLEAR Evidence-Based Contact Lens Fitting review that suggests that patients should be given time to adapt to the vision in multifocals. 18 It was also interesting to note that similar levels of satisfaction were recorded in habitual wearers of either 1 day or frequently replaced (2-week or 1-month replacement) CLs, suggesting refits would be successful from both groups. The only significant difference present in this cohort comparison was a significantly higher overall mean comfort score from the habitual frequently replaced lens group at the follow-up visit.…”

2022 Glenn A. Fry Award lecture: Enhancing clinical assessment for improved ophthalmic management

“…I have played a mentoring role to support academics in the British and Irish University and College Committee of Contact Lens Educators (BUCCLE) to review the evidence base for key areas of clinical contact lens practice 124,223 and conducted studies to address gaps such as the lack of adaptation time required after fitting neophytes 224,225 (which has now been replicated by another group) 226 and optimizing the grading of ocular physiology 130 . To consolidate the increasing evidence base in contact lenses, I brought together experts in the field to create the Contact Lens Evidence–based Academic Reports, published in 2023; this was an initiative to support clinicians in performing evidence-based practice to the benefit of their patients, to identify gaps in the literature for researchers to tackle, and to identify opportunities for industry to innovate 227–233 . These advocate for changes to commonly used, but unhelpful, terminology such as the following: referring to “corneal rigid lenses” rather than rigid gas-permeable (which would include scleral lenses) 234 or gas-permeable (which described all modern) contact lenses 228 ; avoiding the overlap between continuous and extended wear definitions 235,236 by using “planned” or “sporadic” “overnight wear,” which fit better with the risk of complications 237 ; and replacing eponym terms (named after an individual) with the Federative Committee for Anatomical Terminology, 238 recommending “anterior limiting lamellar” rather than Bowman's layer and “posterior limiting lamellar” to replace Descemet's membrane 239 …”

“…130 To consolidate the increasing evidence base in contact lenses, I brought together experts in the field to create the Contact Lens Evidencebased Academic Reports, published in 2023; this was an initiative to support clinicians in performing evidence-based practice to the benefit of their patients, to identify gaps in the literature for researchers to tackle, and to identify opportunities for industry to innovate. [227][228][229][230][231][232][233] These advocate for changes to commonly used, but unhelpful, terminology such as the following: referring to "corneal rigid lenses" rather than rigid gas-permeable (which would include scleral lenses) 234 or gas-permeable (which described all modern) contact lenses 228 ; avoiding the overlap between continuous and extended wear definitions 235,236 by using "planned" or "sporadic" "overnight wear," which fit better with the risk of complications 237 ; and replacing eponym terms (named after an individual) with the Federative Committee for Anatomical Terminology, 238 recommending "anterior limiting lamellar" rather than Bowman's layer and "posterior limiting lamellar" to replace Descemet's membrane. 239 We have reported how intraocular lenses have developed rapidly over the past two decades, 240,241 with our research identifying improvements in toric lens stability [242][243][244][245][246] (and improving on the objective assessment of lens rotation and centration) 247 and evaluating more advanced multifocal optics 248 such as segmented, 80,249 trifocal, 69,81 and those that aim to simulate true "accommodating."…”

Times they are a-changin for contact lens practice

“…One of the groups to be categorised as lower priority would certainly be the routine contact lens aftercare patients, especially those that were asymptomatic. The recent Contact Lens Evidence-Based Academic Reports (CLEAR) reported the latest information in all aspects of contact lenses [23] but in the report that dealt with contact lens practice there is little current evidence related to the frequency of aftercare [24]. Only one paper suggests the safe aftercare interval and recommends a minimum period of 24 months for soft daily disposable, every 12 months for soft daily reusable and rigid daily wear, and every 6 months for soft and rigid overnight wear, with the proviso that these periods may need shortening if refractive changes are predicted, such as progressive myopia or advancing presbyopia [25].…”