We are pleased to announce Vicky Wang as the CCLS Scholarship Recipient for 2023. We look forward to sharing Vicky’s experience.

At the end of last year, I was fortunate enough to receive the Cornea and Contact Lens Society Scholarship. Thanks to the committee for deeming me worthy! It is great that we have such a collegial group of inter-profession anterior eye people here in NZ

For many years I have been meaning to make a trip down to Christchurch to visit Graeme Curtis and his world-class contact lens laboratory Corneal Lens Corporation (CLC). In fact Graeme was one of the first people that taught me about specialty lenses during a day seminar at University! I recall several past conversations with colleagues from earlier generations lamenting the challenges they faced fitting specialty lenses; the inconsistencies between different orders, the limited materials and parameters available, the delay in receiving a lens. We really have it very good in the 21st century to be able to expect a complex yet completely accurate lens design arriving within a few days of ordering. This was the perfect opportunity to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes at CLC to improve my understanding of specialty lenses, and ultimately do the best job I can for my patients. 

CLC have always been at the forefront of contact lens manufcturing and technology. They have been ISO Accredited since 1995 and in recent times have upgrades their lathes to the newest DAC ALM units. A 5th lathe will be installed in June 2018 to keep up with demand (who ever said rigid lenses were dead?!). The ALM units are amazing to watch: the speed and precision that a lens is cut before your eyes is highly impressive. One wonders how lenses ever got made back in the day with only hand lathes available! These multi-tool lathes use robotic loading and laser technology and can cut to sub-micron levels of accuracy; vital when dealing with complex orthokeratology design from fussy practitioners like yours truly. To complement the lathes various production systems have been developed to ensure accuracy by limiting the handling of lenses by technicians. This includes auto blockers (attaching the button of contact lens material to the mount that the lathe connects to), water soluble blocking, to reduce use of any solvents on the lens surfaces, interferometers for checking lens for power and imperfections and polishing systems that run with bladder tools rather than the cruder original methods. 

Recently CLC added the modern surface treatment system HydraPEG to their offerings to provide improved wetting surfaces for rigid materials. HydraPEG creates a 40nm hydrophillic 90%-water polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymer coating on the surface of a lens that improves end of day comfort , decreases lens fogging during the day and improves wettability. Pat Caroline and his team at Pacific Uni showed that HydraPEG works for soft lenses too, improving comfort scores for a group of dry eye patients in Oasys lenses . I have found HydraPEG ideal for those patients with tear-film or dry eye issues and also those with moderate allergic eye disease - a dry anterior lens surface that can result when those atopic keratoconics wear their lenses during all waking hours can be alleviated with this coating. However for those like me who are a fan of regular extra strength cleaning treatments like Progent, be aware these cannot be used with a HydraPEG lens - it will strip the coating right off. 

There were several aspects of my visit to CLC that I found particularly enlightening and interesting. The first was the number of steps that are involved in preparing even a relatively simple RGP lens. Perhaps I was foolishly naive but I had an idea that once I had hit order in my lens design software, all that would be required would be for someone at CLC to hit the big green ‘GO’ button and the lathe would spit out my lens, ready to be sent up to my practice. Not so! Contact lens manufacture is a complex process with a number of crucial steps, each with a fine margin for error. CLC employ 22 staff and a good number of these are specialists at a certain area of the lens manufacture process, from the initial lens design and programming of the parameters into the DAC program, all the way to final edging and quality control. Seeing this in action gives me a new respect and appreciation for the quality of the finished product that ultimately we stake our reputations on as contact lens fitters. Also did you know that soft lenses are cut from a rigid button and only expand into their correct size and shape once hydrated? Fascinating stuff!

Secondly, was watching the process of custom tinting soft lenses. These low volume but highly beneficial lenses are used by practitioners around the country for a range of purposes including glare reduction for patients with iris trauma, cosmetic improvement for blind eyes with corneal opacity or scarring, and simple handling tints for aphakic babies. The dye is applied to the completed clear soft lens at various diameters and positions with a special circular well-device to prevent bleeding of the tint. Each colour and lens material has a special recipe specifying how long the dye should be in contact with the lens for the desired appearance. This skill is something that you can’t pick up a textbook and learn, the technicians that create these lens for us each week are as close as you can get to artists in the contact lens world!

A weekend away wouldn’t be complete without a bit of fun on the side of course. Graeme was kind enough to invite me out for his team’s Christmas party: jet-boating up the spectacular Waimakariri river (the birthplace of the modern jet boat) in superb 30+ °C Canterbury heat. Needless to say the cooling spray from the 360° Hamilton turns were most welcome! A huge thanks must go out to Graeme, Alan and the CLC team for being so welcoming and giving up their time and expertise to teach me a few things. One thing became clear during my visit: CLC go to great lengths to support our profession and help our patients around the country. We are lucky to have such a world-class facility and team here in New Zealand! Cheers guys.

“The CCLS scholarship appealed to me as the recipient got to choose their desired area of up-skilling and is able to organize their own clinical experience. It gave me an opportunity to taper a learning experience to my very own needs.

I had heard a lot about the Innovative bespoke contact lens designs and how successful they were in practice regarding success rate and providing contact lens options for complex corneas and prescriptions previously thought not eligible for certain contact lens treatments.The scholarship seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to learn about the Innovative contact lenses with hands on, one-on-one experience, so I applied for the scholarship and I was very fortunate to be the 2016 recipient.

I contacted Lachlan Scott-Hoy, director of Innovative Contacts and owner of two busy Innovative Eye Care Optometry practices in Adelaide, and he was more than happy to host me at his practices for a week. I was the third CCLSNZ scholarship recipient wanting to learn from him. My aim was that at the end of the scholarship I would feel comfortable enough prescribing all of the Innovative contact lens designs back in practice (ortho-k lenses for high and low myopia/hyperopia/presbyopia/astigmatism, scleral lenses and bespoke RGPs) and be able to share this knowledge with my colleagues. Lachlan was so generous with his time and knowledge that the skills I learnt from the scholarship exceeded my expectations in every way.

Through this scholarship, I not only learnt contact lens fitting skills from the best, I also gained another contact lens mentor and a greater support group of contacts that have the same passion as I do for contact lenses.

I would like to sincerely thank the CCLSNZ and Lachlan for providing me with this amazing opportunity. Prescribing Innovative contact lenses in practice has opened a whole other world for me in regards to contact lens fitting. It has been rewarding to be able to confidently and successfully offer contact lens options to more clients and to also refit clients who weren’t happy in their old contact lens designs into Innovative contact lens designs. I feel this scholarship has kept me motivated in the contact lens specialty and I am so grateful for this help and support along my contact lens journey.”

“It was an honour to be selected as the CCLS Scholarship recipient for 2015. I utilised this time to further develop my skills in custom built Ortho K contact lenses and custom build scleral contact lenses with Lachlan Scott-Hoy at Innovative Eye Care in Adelaide.

I have been fitting OrthoK since 2009 with Paragon CRT and launched into Innovative contact lenses on their arrival into the marketplace. I have found that with the potential for customised contact lens design there were gaps in my deeper understanding of how the lens design worked and what was needed to optimise the correction for OrthoK in fits that were not going to plan. Also having only been fitting scleral lenses since 2014, I felt I didn’t have the depth of knowledge on what to accept as normal signs or what to alter in a complex lens design. I wanted to gain improved management skills and design skills and a better control of the software Eyespace which Lachlan had designed .

It certainly was an opportunity for personal growth observing another practitioner in action in their own space, and Lachlan was great fun to learn with. It was a challenge trying not to say too much and get in the way, especially after 10 years of practice doing it all myself. But throughout my week long stay I saw many different lens designs and strategies. I learnt several tricks with the software Eyespace. I left feeling more confident about how I tackled contact lens fitting and design alterations in custom built OrthoK and scleral lenses. I even got used to all the aussie accents, which was a bit of laugh.

I also got to check out some Aussie Battlers on the AFL pitch and taste some bang up McLaren Vale red wines to boot… who says you cant mix passion with pleasure. I would recommend to any practitioner interested in stretching their comfort zone in contact lenses to take advantage of the scholarship that the CCLS offer. It can give a breath of fresh air into your thinking about the profession that you give yourself toevery day of the week. It is a chance to slow down and think, before your put your head down to speed up! Again, Thank you to the CCLS for the opportunity.”

“In 2014 I was the lucky recipient of the CCLSNZ scholarship. I spent in week working with Prof. Christine Sindt at the University of Iowa, Hospital and Clinic. The optometry and ophthalmology department in Iowa is rated as the sixth best in the USA and sees about 300-400 patients a day.

Chris’s area of expertise is working with “sick” corneas and paediatric contact lens fitting. I chose to spend my time with her because of my personal interest in behavioural optometry and paediatrics. Our morning started at 8am with “Daily Rounds” This is an open discussion held between the optometrists, interns and fellows on any current cases of interest. Then up to the clinic where I got to work alongside Chris and her team, fitting conditions I’d only ever read about. I learnt to fit sclerals, semi-sclerals and even Eyeprint prosthetics. I was fortunate enough to be a patient myself having the full prosthetic contact lens fitting experience too. My favourite patients were still the babies and kiddies of course. My youngest RGP patient was only 3 months old. It was awe-inspiring, mind-blowing work.

It wasn’t all work however. Chris was the most amazing host. When I called to ask if I could spend the week with her for the scholarship, she was so excited that she insisted I stay with her and her family. Chris has 3 wonderful children, similar in age to my own. They welcomed me as a family member. I went to school concerts, learnt to carve pumpkins and went trick or treating. Steve, (Chris’ husband) even cooked me a full Thanksgiving dinner.We took time to sight see around Iowa city and into the county where we enjoyed the traditions of Amish living and German cuisine.

All in all it was the experience of a lifetime. Most importantly it was a career changing experience for me too. I love being an optometrist and the behavioural work I do but as a mum, with three boys I felt that where I was, was all I could manage. Over the years I had taken time off for my family and even now only work part time. Perhaps I had lost the courage to push myself as an optometrist. Chris showed me that I can be the mum I want to be and at the top of my profession too. Her passion and drive for her work was intoxicating!I returned two weeks later with a new focus. I registered and completed therapeutics, went on to start fitting ortho-K and returned to fitting “cones”, sclerals and piggyback lenses, which I had long ago started sending to my colleagues. I love the optometrist I am today! I’m once again at the top of my game! Words could not explain how thankful I am to the Cornea Contact Lens Society for this career changing opportunity. It started as a fun idea and became a turning point in my career. THANK YOU CCLS!!!”

‘‘For my CCLSNZ scholarship I spent 5 days at Innovative Eyecare in Adelaide in April 2014. The days either side of this time spent in wine country just happened to be fortuitous. I had a level of frustration about the limited structured knowledge I had been able to gain on my own about custom Ortho K and scleral lens fitting, both from seminars, self-directed learning or spending time with colleagues.

Early on when I started doing Ortho K and scleral lenses I had met Lachie at an Ortho K conference in the Gold Coast. He was motivated, enthusiastic and most of all, clearly knew what he was doing. His methodical approach to tricky scleral fitting and frontier Ortho K was inspiring. Fortunately we got on well and upon meeting him again, he was kind enough to offer to show me some of what he knew if I could make it to Adelaide. The CCLS council also happened to be asking for people to apply for the Scholarship and it was not a particularly onerous exercise to do so.

The scholarship of $2500 covered my airfare and 5 days of accommodation in Adelaide which made it cost neutral spending time out of practice. In my time there I sat in on fittings and followups of both Ortho K and scleral lenses, with both Lachie and his other optometrist Alex, at his main practice in central Adelaide. There were several of these appointments daily where I got to see in action just how the finesse of the structured approach to fitting was applied. In between these consults I spent the rest of my time with Kendrew, the technical guru at Innovative. This is where I learnt how to design custom Ortho K lenses using the corneal maps sent to him by optometrists in NZ and Australia.

Of course this was a vertical learning curve for me all round but this form of immersion got me very confident very quickly. Admittedly Lachie and Innovative will benefit from my improved knowledge of their products and I can therefore do a better job of using their products more independently, but it’s no small sacrifice to give ones time during busy days to teach a guy from over the ditch how to fit lenses that not many people are familiar with, and for that I am very grateful.’’