Cooper Expands the Avaira Recall -- Again

"Cooper Cos. has broadened a contact lens recall to include some lots of its Avaira Sphere lenses and expects a roughly $9 million charge in its fiscal fourth quarter," reports the WSJ's MarketWatch. "Cooper in August issued a recall for some lots of its Avaira Toric contact lenses after a small number of customers complained of hazy vision after wearing them. The company's CooperVision unit said it identified a residue on a small number of the lenses, which were first introduced in April 2010. Tuesday, the company said it was expanding its recall as certain lots of Avaira Sphere lenses failed to meet updated quality requirements due to the level of a silicone oil residue. The company said no other product line uses silicone oil in the manufacturing process other than Avaira Sphere and Avaira Toric." Read more.


According to the company's press release, "CooperVision announced today that it is expanding its worldwide recall of the encore 100 brand product line of contact lenses to include a limited number of lots of encore100 Sphere contact lenses. In continued collaboration with the United States Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada, CooperVision is expanding the recall because it identified certain lots of encore100 Sphere lenses that did not meet its updated quality requirements due to the level of a silicone oil residue."

CL Use Growing in Asia

"Contact lenses are big business in Asia, with the latest quarter sales hitting more than 131 million pieces and raking in more than US$211 million (S$273 million), global market research firm GfK said," according to a report in AsiaOne. "Although positive growth was recorded across all the seven Asian markets data was collected from, the growth was led in particular by Taiwanese and Korean consumers. The Taiwanese held on to their number one spot as the largest consumers of contact lenses in Asia, buying an average of 14.5 million pieces each month, but the title of the biggest spenders went to the Koreans, who forked out a combined value of more than US$26 million per month. The other countries were Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and China." Read more.

Sunglass Hut Takes to Crusing Sydney Harbour

Sunglass Hut, Luxottica's sunwear shop, will start the Australian sun season with the first floating pop-up store. It will cross at three different locations on the sophisticated Sydney Harbour. The floating store is designed around the Sunglass Hut circle logo, incorporates a DJ booth and features a transparent fit-out to capture the beautiful Sydney harbour surrounds in a four-day package that incorporates a number of elements to provide a truly amplified brand experience. Read more.

Armani Not Renewing with Safilo & Reportedly Signed with Luxottica

Armani will not renew its licensing agreement with Safilo beyond the end of 2012. Safilo’s sales through the Armani Group’s licenses were approximately Euro 165 million in 2010 and Euro 125 million in the first nine months of 2011. In light of the non-renewal and based on the current portfolio of brands, the Group's medium-term financial targets, communicated on September 29, would be lower by approximately Euro 150-200 million at the net sale level in 2015, while the EBITDA margin would reach 13.5% instead of 15%. Read more.  A little while ago, the blog reported that Luxottica was courting Armani. According to some industry reports, Armani has already signed a letter of intent with Luxottica.

Oakley Signs Up Erica Hosseini

Oakley, Inc., has "a new addition to the company’s Global Women’s Team: WQS surfer Erica Hosseini," according to the TransWorldRead more. website. "Erica will rely on Oakley’s ability to bridge the gap between form and function enabling her to fulfill her potential in and out of the water, while simultaneously expressing her own distinctive style."

Artist Distors Reality with CLs

The arts website TrendsHunter reports that "you may never look at your contact lenses the same way again after the Haruka Kojin Contact Lens installation. Featured as part of the Architectural Environments for Tomorrow exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, this art piece explores the distortion of reality. Karuka Kojin uses two types of contact lenses: flat and curved. The curved surface contact lens plays with the light as it hits it, creating a stunning dynamic as it reflects the color onto multiple surfaces." Read more.

Fatheadz Women's Line Sold Online and in Canadian Walmarts

"According to my source, in Dec., 4 new optical and 6 new sun styles will be sold online and in Walmart Vision Centers in the US and Canada," according to a cute Fatheadz pr post. "Fatheadz are priced from $29.95-$79.95.  There is also a women's line from Fatheadz, DEA.  These will be available online, and so sad to hear, only in Canadian Walmart Stores December 1.   So make sure to check them out online, and once December hits look for them in Walmart. Believe me these are a great gift idea for anyone who has trouble finding glasses that fit properly.  Be sure to follow Fatheadz onTwitter and "like" their Facebook page so you can stay up to date on their products!" Read more. See pictures.

Radcliffe Allergic to Harry Potter Specs

"Daniel Radcliffe has revealed he was allergic to his Harry Potter specs," according to a MonstersandCritics post. "The 22-year-old actor wore the iconic round glasses for all eight films of the boy wizard franchise, but had to have a special pair made after he developed a mystery rash while filming the first installment, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. He told The Sun: 'These two rings of whiteheads and spots had come up around my eyes. It took us a week to realise it was actually the glasses.' Film bosses decided a nickel allergy was to blame and replaced his eyewear with a set made from hypoallergenic materials." Read more.

Safilo Pens Deal with Celine Eyewear

Safilo Group signed a multiyear licensing agreement for the production and worldwide distribution of Céline eyewear. The collections, designed for a sophisticated modern woman, will be available from January 2012 in Céline boutiques and selected retail outlets worldwide. Read more.

CL's with Embedded Meds Closer to Reality

"Research scientist Andrew Tangonan displayed a contact lens Friday that was clear in the middle but white around the edges from microscopic fibers embedded in the lens," reports the News-Leader. "The contact lens is only a prototype, but scientists affiliated with St. John's Medical Research Institute hope that some day soldiers injured on the battlefield could be treated with medicine administered through the fibers that could help save their eyesight." Read more. A grant from the Department of Defense has funded the research.

Surgeons Organize Fund-Raiser for Honduran Eye Charity

"A group of local eye surgeons who have been traveling to Honduras for more than 20 years to provide free surgery and eye exams for the poor is raising money to renovate the hospital in LaCeiba where they operate," reports the blog Syracuse.com."The doctors have formed a non-profit organization, Honduran Eye and Life Program, and are making plans to hold a major fundraising event this winter....On their last trip the team performed 80 surgeries, including corneal transplants and cataract surgeries, and screened more than 250 patients, providing them with glasses and eye drops. Over the last 20 years the group has done an estimated 800 surgeries." Read more.

Carrera Broadens Marketing Campaign

MidwestLens reports that Carrera "is broadening its horizons with a vibrant new campaign that targets its fun-loving audience. Created by the agency D’Adda, Lorenzini, Vigorelli, BBDO, the latest campaign continues with its 'After All, No Regrets' headline and showcases...[characters experiencing] exciting and captivating moments with intensity and determination, accompanied at all times by Carrera eyewear as an inseparable companion."Read more.

How Does the Brain Keep Color Perception Stable? The Answer

"Vision is amazing because it seems so mundane. Peoples' eyes, nerves and brains translate light into electrochemical signals and then into an experience of the world around them," reports MedicalNewsToday. "A close look at the physics of just the first part of this process shows that even seemingly simple tasks, like keeping a stable perception of an object's color in different lighting conditions or distinguishing black and white objects, is, in fact, very challenging. University of Pennsylvania psychologists, by way of a novel experiment, have now provided new insight into how the brain tackles this problem." Read more.  The "research will be published in the journal Current Biology."

SCG Helps Opticians Promote CLs

"The national awareness campaign, Eye Love My Local Independent Optician, launched by the Sight Care Group [SCG], is supporting its members’ practices by rolling out a bespoke contact lens toolkit to help drive new patient enquiries and boost sales," according to a post on Optometry.co.uk. "It features posters, a fact sheet and advice for practitioners. Recent research completed by the campaign discovered that 78% of people who wear spectacles have never tried contact lenses, however a third would like to know more about the options available to them but have never enquired." Read more. Why can't a similar program run in the U.S., which naturally has a larger CL market?

FDA Wants More Trials for Alimera's Eye Drug

"U.S. health regulators declined to approve Alimera Sciences Inc's experimental drug to treat retinal swelling for the second time citing safety issues, and asked the biopharmaceutical company to conduct two more trials," according to a Reuters post. Read more.

The Curious Eyewear World of Johnn Deep

Deep as Willy Wonka

SabotageTimes discovered the cool topic, the eyewear of Johnny Deep: "Johnny Depp is often cited as a sex symbol and one of the sexiest men alive, but without his beloved eyewear this may all not have been possible, and so we give you 10 great examples of the king of cool sporting a mix of onscreen frames." Read and see more.

Global Eyeglasses Giving Away Eyewear on Black Friday

GlobalEyeglasses.com will celebrate this Black Friday by giving away 2,000 free eyeglasses. The online retailer of eyewear is currently offering a buy-one-get-one promotion.

Hendricks and Allergan Raising Money for Make-A-Wish

Hendricks of Mad Men fame.

Emmy-nominated actress Christina Hendricks and Allergan, Inc., are asking$500,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation through the Latisse Wishes Challenge. Since its launch in June, participants have raised more than $390,000, but $110,000 is still needed. With just weeks until the campaign's close, Hendricks is urging women to help by donating a minimum of $20 on www.LatisseWishesChallenge.com by November 30. The first 10,000 participants making the minimum $20 women to help with a final push to raise donation will receive a free trial certificate for a one month's supply of Latisse--an FDA-approved prescription treatment for longer eyelashes.

New Afterimage Effect Discovered

Afterimage of the American flag.

"When we gaze at a shape and then the shape disappears, a strange thing happens: We see an afterimage in the complementary color," notes MedicalNewsToday. "Now a Japanese study has observed for the first time an equally strange illusion: The afterimage appears in a 'complementary' shape - circles as hexagons, and vice-versa." Read more.

MD's Fighting OD's Expanding Scope of Practice

"Ophthalmologists should form a united front to resist powerful efforts being mounted by optometric groups to expand scope of practice privileges, a speaker said." That's the report from the OSNSuperSite. "At the American Society of Retina Specialists meeting in Boston, David W. Parke II, MD, CEO and executive vice president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, urged colleagues to participate in ongoing efforts to block the passage of state legislation designed to expand the scope of practice for optometry. Since 1999, the AAO and various ophthalmic subspecialty societies have defeated scope of practice bills in 28 states. Two states, Kentucky and Oklahoma, have laws that expand scope of practice, Dr. Parke said." Read more.