Dr. Carla Mack is Global Head of Professional Affairs at Alcon

What’s most exciting about Alcon’s latest innovations is not just the technology behind them, but the opportunity to address a longstanding problem in contact lens wear: the normalization of discomfort¹ and a growing population of “silent sufferers” or “say nothing” patients.

Some contact lens wearers avoid wearing their contacts one or two days every week to give their eyes a break. Others keep a bottle of rewetting drops on hand to keep their lenses from drying out. Still others have gotten into the habit of taking out their contacts after a long day.

While it may be different for each contact lens wearer, there’s one thing many of them have in common – they have normalized the feeling of discomfort.

Innovating for the Silent Sufferer 

Seventy-three percent of monthly contact lens wearers report experiencing some discomfort.¹ However, many don’t mention their discomfort during an exam. These patients might blame anything but the lenses for their discomfort: their own behavior, their eyes, environmental factors. They might not have a frame of reference for what great comfort feels like and thus settle for a less-than-superior solution.

At Alcon, we recognized the exciting opportunity to bring powerful innovation and a premium experience for the two-thirds of contact lens wearers who are in reusable lenses.²

Building off the heritage of DAILIES TOTAL1^®, Alcon recently launched TOTAL30^®, the first-and-only monthly replacement Water Gradient contact lens that feels like nothing, even on day 30.³

As a Water Gradient lens, TOTAL30 features a core water content of 55%, while the outermost surface approaches 100% water, so all that touches the eye is a gentle cushion of moisture.^{4, 5} This technology is exclusive to Alcon's TOTAL^® family of lenses.

Made possible through the use of new CELLIGENT^® Technology, TOTAL30 lenses mimic the human eye’s ocular surface.^{6, 7} CELLIGENT Technology helps resists lipid and bacterial deposits.^{8-11, †}

Just think of how many silent sufferers are out there. This is a massive opportunity to uncover and help address these issues with a reusable lens option that will allow them to see brilliantly and comfortably – and a chance to help new contact lens wearers have a positive experience from the start.

A Lens to Build an Eye Care Business

An important part of discovering and intercepting silent sufferer patients is ensuring that eye care professionals (ECPs) have the tools to elevate their patients’ wearing experience and empower them. This is especially important following the disruption of COVID-19, when many ECPs’ businesses stalled and patients dwindled. Now, many ECPs are looking towards solutions and innovations that will help build their businesses.

TOTAL30 is a lens with which ECPs can do just that. Eye care practitioners can now tell their patients they have a lens with a surface as soft as the cornea itself.^{6, 7, 11}

Once patients feel the joy of nothing – and practitioners see the benefits for their practices and patients – they’ll wonder why they didn’t speak up sooner.

See product instructions for complete wear, care, and safety information. Prescription only.

† Based on in vitro studies on unworn lenses.

References

1. Schnider C. Evaluating Monthly Replacement CL Patient Satisfaction. Abstract and lecture at the American Academy of Optometry Conference 2016, Orlando, FL.
2. Internal estimates; Alcon data on file, 2021.
3. In a clinical study wherein patients (n=66) used CLEAR CARE® solution for nightly cleaning, disinfecting, and storing; Alcon data on file, 2021.
4. In vitro analysis of lehfilcon A contact lenses outermost surface softness and correlation with water content; Alcon data on file, 2021.
5. In vitro analysis of lens oxygen permeability, water content, and surface imaging; Alcon data on file, 2021.
6. Shi X, Cantu-Crouch D, Sharma V, et al. Surface characterization of a silicone hydrogel contact lens having bioinspired 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine polymer layer in hydrated state. Colloids Surf B: Biointerfaces. March 2021;199:111539.
7. Surface observations of lehfilcon A contact lens and human cornea using scanning transmissions electron microscopy; Alcon data on file, 2020.
8. In vitro testing of unworn lenses; Alcon data on file, 2020.
9. In vitro evaluation of bacterial biofilm in commercial lenses: Alcon data on file, 2020.
10. In vitro evaluation of lipid deposition for lehfilcon A and commercial lenses using 3D confocal imaging; Alcon data on file, 2021.
11. Ishihara K, Fukazawa K, Sharma V, Liang S, et al. Antifouling silicone hydrogel contact lenses with a bioinspired 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine polymer surface. ACS Omega. 2021;6:7058-7067.