This month marks the 32nd anniversary of Reviews special report on contact lenses. Over the years, we have looked at this segment of the profession from many angles.

In 1978, we focused on soft lens hygiene and provided an overview of the latest research and products, including a piece called, Soft Lens CoatingAnd What Can Be Done About It. That years Contact Lens Report also contained an article called, Clinical Comparison of PMMA and BP Flex Contact Lenses.

The cover focus in 1984: Fine Tuning Your Extended Wear Practice. Then, in 1992, Review gave you a practice-management edition like no other with, Five Ways to a Brighter Practice. In 2002, Review hit on a controversial topicrefractive surgeryand focused the annual report on Fits to Fix Refractive Surgery Outcomes.

We are confident that this years report is just as compellingand timelyas what youve come to expect. This month, Karen K. Yeung, O.D., and Barry A. Weissman, O.D., Ph.D., discuss myriad contact lens options for patients with keratoconus in An Updated Perspective on Keratoconus.

While keratoconus is hardly a new disease, research is at a tipping point; advances on the horizon may very well cure the disease. And, in the meantime, the therapeutic options for treatment are truly revolutionary and can improve a patients quality of life like never before. So, brush up on your keratoconus knowledgeand earn two CE credits while youre at it!

Another compelling component of this years Contact Lens Report: Lens Care in the Aftermath of the Storm, in which Milton Hom, O.D., takes us back to June 30, 2006, when there were 164 confirmed cases of Fusarium keratitis in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As you know, the outbreak led Bausch & Lomb to voluntarily discontinue ReNu with MoistureLoc. A few months later, Advanced Medical Optics voluntarily recalled its Complete MoisturePlus solution due to a threat of Acanthamoeba keratitis. Dr. Hom explains the factors leading to the perfect storm that created the Fusarium and Acanthamoeba outbreaks and where we go from here.

Contact lenses are truly a cornerstone of optometry and, as such, they remain a primary focus in Review. We hope this years report advances your understanding of this remarkable therapeutic and vision-correcting medical device.

And, stay tuned next month for our annual ARVO Report, where you can learn even more about advances in contact lenses. In the cornea section, Joseph P. Shovlin, O.D., associate clinical editor for Review of Optometry and clinical editor for Review of Cornea and Contact Lenses, takes a closer look at the following breaking contact lens research:

One study, titled Soft Contact Lenses Do Not Increase Myopia Progression in Children, found that, after three years of lens wear, patients vision was worse than that of spectacle-wearing patients by only 0.19D.
The authors of Factors Associated with Drop Out from Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lens Daily Wear hoped to find that SiHy lenses would help reduce dropout, but instead determined that those who discontinued daily wear rated SiHy lenses low on the comfort scale as well.

Another study, entitled Treatment, Material, Care and Patient Factors in Contact Lens-Related Dry Eye, found that current dry eye treatments for contact lens patients do not adequately handle dry eye. The study points out that lens care solutions are not strongly related to dry eye, whereas certain lens materials are.

As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions regarding themes for future articles.