By Amy Hellem 

Let’s call a spade a spade: Fitting presbyopes has never been easy, especially when these patients are young, emerging presbyopes who aren’t used to visual struggle and have never been faced with the need to neuroadapt. The challenge for practitioners is further multiplied when these same patients have astigmatism, since this usually greatly reduces the options at our disposal.

Despite these hurdles, we try and try again to make every presbyope happy. Over the years, lots of different contact lenses in a variety of materials and designs have helped us satisfy a growing number of patients—yet we’re still commonly faced with patients who are grossly underwhelmed with the distance vision that we’ve been able to give them in a presbyopic lens.

Fortunately, we now have another lens for our toolkit —but it’s one that’s different in a practical and meaningful way – one where the distance zone can be adjusted to match the individual patient’s pupil size.

New Duette Progressive Center Distance features a technology called FlexOptics^TM, offering an adjustable center distance zone size to address variations in pupil diameter, as well as a wide range of add powers. Duette Progressive is now available in both Center Distance and Center Near designs, allowing for greater vision correction customization.

Why Center Distance?

If you strip away distance clarity in an emerging presbyope, you won’t likely get a five star review. The new presbyope’s familiarity with crisp distance is almost always non-negotiable. This has led to the popularity of the Center Distance lens design.

Center Distance lenses limit the amount of disruption to the distance vision by having the portion of the lens over the visual axis containing the distance Rx blending into the bifocal power toward the periphery.¹ In addition to being a good match for emerging presbyopes who want clear distance vision, Center Distance lenses are preferred for pilots, drivers, and athletes since the distance portion of the lens is over the visual axis.²

Pupil Sizes Vary.  Now the Optic Zone Can Vary Too

With age, pupils decrease in size and become less reactive.³ Furthermore, there are significant variations in pupil diameter among individuals.³ That’s why it’s so important to offer your patients a personalized lens for their unique eyes.

The Duette Progressive Center Distance design has FlexOptics^TM to provide a customized vision solution: the adjustable center distance zone size ranges from 1.8 - 4.0mm, driven by photopic pupil size, while add powers range from +0.75 to +5.00 D.

Meet the Needs of the Underserved

Choosing a lens with Center Distance optics can provide a distance experience that feels natural to patients who are growing into presbyopia. Indeed, Duette Progressive hybrid lenses are customizable for the continuum of presbyopia, even for those with astigmatism.

From emerging to advanced presbyopia, Duette Progressive hybrid lenses offer uncompromised GP optics with soft skirt comfort. And rest assured, SynergEyes continues to also offer the Center Near design for advanced presbyopes and other patients with significant near demands.

Amy Hellem is an independent writer and researcher who specializes in ophthalmology and optometry. Previously, she served as editor-in-chief of Review of Optometry and Review of Cornea & Contact Lenses and directed the custom publishing division for Review of Ophthalmology.

References

1. Nixon G. Which Multifocal Design Is Best For Your Patients? Contact Lens Spectrum, December 2016.

2. Barnett M. Presbyopic Success with Multifocal Scleral Lenses. Contact Lens Spectrum. September 2017.

3. Richdale K. Ocular and Refractive Considerations for the Aging Eye. Contact Lens Spectrum. February 2009.