Therapeutic Contact Lenses With Custom Color Tints And Hand-Painted Irises Join The Ranks Of Devices Now Helping Low Vision Patients Use What Vision They Have More Efficiently
According to current industry statistics more than 1 million Americans age 40 and older are currently blind, and an additional 2.4 million are visually impaired. These numbers, based on a report from the National Eye Institute, are expected to double over the next 30 years as baby boomers age. Among the major causes: diabetic retinopathy affects more than 5.3 million Americans age 18 and older; age-related macular degeneration affects more than 1.6 million Americans over age 60; and cataracts, the leading cause of blindness in the world, affects nearly 20.5 million Americans age 65 and older.
Golden, Colo. (PRWEB) January 15, 2003 -- Optometrists and ophthalmologists who specialize in low vision rehabilitation now have a new tool at their disposal to help low vision patients: soft contact lenses with custom-tints added in the area of the pupil. This new twist on a familiar product aids low vision patients challenged with diabetic retinopathy, retinitis pigmentosa, albinism, optic atrophy, macular degeneration, cataracts and other conditions and impairments.
The announcement is made by Stan Harper, CEO of Adventures in Color Technology, Ltd., and former president of the Contact Lens Society of America. His company has been tinting and hand-painting contact lenses the past 15 years for prosthetic, therapeutic, cosmetic and theatrical purposes. Client practitioners are worldwide and now number more than 10,000.
"We have perfected a series of tints that range from yellows to reds and are custom matched to the individual needs of the low vision patient and verified with spectrophotometer readings. We work at the direction of the patient's practitioner to achieve the precise color match, as well as the exact diameter size of the patient's pupil," explains Harper, "For patients who are extremely light sensitive, we also offer a variety of pinhole lenses (with or without color tints) to help block out light and glare."
With borderline vision, according to Jay Schlanger, O.D., F.A.A.O, at the Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA, removing a lot of the extra glare will help a patient perceive things better.
"Patients don't go from 20/100 to 20/80, but the 20/100 they see is clearer and more comfortable. The glare simply gets in the way of them concentrating on what they see," Dr. Schlanger says. He has been using therapeutic contact lenses from Adventures in Color Technology for close to 15 years now, primarily for treating patients with color deficiency.
Adventures in Color Technology also offers one more aid in helping the low vision patient: hand-painted applications that can transform a tinted or tinted/pinhole therapeutic lens into what looks like a normal eye. Self esteem can be enhanced along with the therapeutic benefits of special tints and pinhole configurations and sizes.
Dale G. Lervick, O.D., is a Metro Denver, Colo., optometrist whose been working with low vision patients for more than 20 years and is quite familiar with Harper's therapeutic contact lenses. He emphasizes that the lenses are not a "stand alone" solution for the low vision patient, however. They need to be used in conjunction with other devices, such as telescopes and magnifiers, and prescribed appropriately taking into consideration the psychological and social issues facing the patient.
Dr. Lervick is treating an albinism patient (a 16-year-old male) who he has prescribed a pair of hand-painted lenses from Adventures in Color Technology. The lenses help decrease the patient's light sensitivity and thereby help functional levels of visual improvement. "They're going to make him feel more normal, more acceptable, and he's less photophobic now. So, it's one less thing the patient has to deal with. It can make a big difference in his life and his self-esteem," Dr. Lervick explains, "In order for this person to be able to drive, we'll most likely have to fit him with a bioptic telescopic lens system (which is a telescope mounted on eyeglasses), in addition to the custom contacts."
In addition to albinism, Dr. Lervick is currently using Harper's tinted lenses to help a low vision patient with Stargardt Disease. Stargardt's is the most common form of inherited juvenile macular degeneration. It is characterized by a reduction of central vision with a preservation of peripheral (side) vision.
According to Dr. Lervick, most patients who have Stargardt Disease, or variants of Stargardt's disease, are color deficient, some to the point they are monochromatic. So, they don't see colors at all. A red-tinted lens helps them to have color discrimination to a certain level, because the lens enhances contrast and reduces photophobia, in addition to improving color discrimination. The tinted lenses can help - although not always - the Stargardt's patient to see the difference in red and green lights when driving - again, most likely, with the aid of a glasses-mounted telescope system.
Quite often low vision patients are extremely sensitive to different wave lengths of light and ordinary glasses with tinted lenses allow too much glare to reach the retina - both from the side and above. Although this tint does provide some relief, it can filter out most of the wave lengths that reach the retina that contribute to reduced levels of visual acuity. With the therapeutic contact lens applied directly on the eye, it provides for 100% filtration, rather than partial filtration.
The company's headquarters is located at 1800 Jackson Street, Golden, Colo., 80401. Harper may be reached at 303-271-9644, toll-free at 1-800-537-2845 or by e-mail at info@techcolors.com. The company website is http://www.techcolors.com.
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