Expert Views on Innovative Future Uses for Contact Lenses.

Over the past 10 to 15 years, the availability of new materials and technologies has resulted in revolutionary concepts for contact lenses being proposed that go well beyond correcting vision. These novel uses include their prescribing to deliver topical ocular and systemic drugs, assist with ocular surface disease management, and limit the progression of myopia and novel methods to display visual information. How likely are these concepts to become commercially available, how successful will they be, and what are the potential issues to consider for them to come to market? To answer these questions, a panel of four experts were invited to discuss the benefits and pitfalls of these technologies and what challenges lay ahead of these concepts before their availability. Their responses provide a fascinating insight for the clinician into the likelihood of such revolutionary contact lenses being available in a clinical setting.