Opticians have become accustomed to an end-of-the-year sales rush--not sparked by the holidays. Customers want to spend the remainder of the flex spending (FSA--flexibile spending accounts). With the passage of the recent health care bill, FSA's will change.

OTC meds and devices will require a doctor's note if the patient wants to apply his/her FSA. There are exceptions, such as contact lens supplies and reading glasses.

By  2013, the law limits FSA allocations to $2500 annually tax-free,  down from the current $5000 tax-free. Apparently individuals in the past would use their left over flex spending to go on buying sprees. Click here for more.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 8:05 AM EDT
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Under considerable pressure from the Federal Trade Commission, Novartis is readying to sell Miochol-E to competitor Bausch & Lomb. Novartis had to csell the drug before the FTC would approve its aquisition of Alcon. Why?  Both companies made the only injectable miotics, which physicians use in cataract surgery.That's the report from Business Week.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 7:41 AM EDT
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This report is from the PRWeb site: "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proving its newly formed concern regarding the safety and validity of claimed 'impact-resistant lenses' in eyeglasses and sunglasses by initiating a new FDA Import Alert, last updated on August 26, 2010. Import Alert 86-07 'Detention Without Physical Examination of and Guidance for 'Impact-Resistant Lenses in Eyeglasses and Sunglasses' (IA 86-07) includes a Red List of five firms which have been added only since July 15, 2010. Three of these five firms were added on August 26, 2010. ... Sunglasses (with or without UV protection) and eyeglasses (prescription and nonprescription) are regulated by FDA as medical devices."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 8:56 AM EDT
Updated: Friday, 3 September 2010 3:51 PM EDT
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Vision Monday reports that "in January 2011, the Lacoste eyewear licence will be taken over by Marchon Eyewear, Inc."

EyeSmart noted "Marchon Eyewear, Inc., will design, produce and sell the LACOSTE sunwear and optical collections under the control of LACOSTE S.A.. The new collections will debut in retail in January 2011 and will be presented at the LACOSTE Spring-Summer 2011 Fashion Show in September 2010."

In addtion "Altair, a division of Marchon Eyewear, has been appointed to design a line of Bebe-branded sunglasses and other eyewear for launch next month," according to LicenseMagazine.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 2:49 PM EDT
Updated: Thursday, 2 September 2010 2:55 PM EDT
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ConsumerReportsHealth.com came out with a story including this idea: " the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) is reporting a possible update to the package design that would require the attachment of the contact lens holder to the bottle in order to use the solution. We've [Consumer Reports] previously made the argument that look-alike containers can lead to mistakes. Seeing all multipurpose cleaning and disinfecting solutions used for rinsing and soaking lenses in look-alike containers and stored side-by-side on store shelves, contact lens wearers might assume that the Clear Care product can be used in the same way as others."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 6:46 AM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, 1 September 2010 6:47 AM EDT
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If parents, teachers, and coaches were more pro-active, the leading cause of childhood blindness will cease. That's the implications of a recent posting for HealthNewsDigest.com by National Eye Institute (NEI). The esteemed institution noted that eye injuries account for much of the blindness in school-aged children and that most injuries are sports related. Parents, teachers, and coaches can prevent the resulting corneal abrasions, blunt traumas, penetrating injuries, inflamed irises, fractured eye sockets, detached retinas, and traumatic cataracts 90% of the time if they insist the children wear safety eyewear. That's why Prevent Blindness America has declared September as Sports Eye Health and Safety Awareness Month.

At the same time, MDLinx notes that "The depiction of adequate protective eyewear use during eye–risk activities is rare in network scripted broadcast programs. Healthcare professionals and health advocacy groups should continue to work to improve public education about eye injury risks and prevention; these efforts could include working with the television industry to improve the accuracy of the depiction of eye injuries and the proper protective eyewear used for prevention of injuries in scripted programming."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 6:26 AM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, 1 September 2010 6:48 AM EDT
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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Abbott Laboratories (ABT) has recalled bottles of two contact lens solutions in parts of Europe and the Middle East--Complete Multi-Purpose product and Total Care--because of poor-fitting caps that could compromise the products' sterility. Just a few days ago, the recall affected only lots of Complete sold in Great Britain after the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency issued an alert on Friday. The British agency and Abbot are concerned about a potential leak in the bottles' flip-top caps. The solution itself is not contaminated.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 6:41 AM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, 1 September 2010 6:50 AM EDT
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