SHOPTALK : New Lens Is Easy on Eyes

About 5 million U.S. consumers are considered “failures” by the contact lens industry. They tried but gave up wearing contact lenses because of discomfort, fitting problems or other reasons. Now, the manufacturer of a new lens called Novalens is trying to persuade these dropouts to try again.

Novalens combines the best characteristics of hard and soft lenses, claims Alan J. Touch, an optometrist and chairman of OcuTec in Raleigh, N.C.

Novalens is rigid like a gas-permeable lens but water-loving or “hydrophilic” like a soft lens. That means it will be more comfortable, Touch said, especially for wearers sensitive to buildup of protein deposits on lens surfaces.

The lens, recently approved for daily wear by the Food and Drug Administration, costs about the same as rigid gas-permeable lenses, Touch said. Lens life is about two years.

“The lens does seem to be more comfortable for certain individuals,” said Dr. William Sagan, a Mountain View optometrist who participated in the Novalens clinical trials.

“It has the potential to help contact lens dropouts, but it’s not the answer for everybody.”