•Notícia

Jaume Pauné, a graduate of the Master’s Degree in Optometry and Vision Sciences at the College of Optics and Optometry of Terrassa of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)-Barcelona Tech, has designed the first contact lens capable of correcting hyperopia without refractive surgery by means of corneal reshaping, also known as orthokeratology or ortho-K. This technique uses rigid gas-permeable contact lenses to reshape the cornea to correct vision defects such as myopia, stigmatism and mild to moderate hyperopia without surgery. Each patient is fitted with unique lenses that are custom-made for his or her eyes. For the sake of comfort, the patient wears the contact lenses only at night. The lens works by applying pressure to the tear film that coats the outside of the cornea. This pressure changes the shape of the cornea by about 20 µm, or about half the width of a strand of human hair. In the morning, the patient removes the lenses and is able to see perfectly. The results are the same as with refractive surgery, but are temporary. These new contact lenses, developed as part of a master’s thesis by Jaume Pauné, are being sold at an initial price of €1000, which includes the cost of designing unique lenses to fit each cornea, and €400 for annual replacement lenses. The lenses are being marketed in collaboration with Atenas Vision, the distributor for Spain and Portugal, and the French laboratory Precilens, which manufactures the lenses under the name PauneLens.
Jaume Pauné developed this innovative new contact lens using existing ortho-K technology. In 2005, at an international contact lens conference in the United States, Pauné saw the presentation of the first ortho-K lens to be developed for hyperopia, which ultimately was never introduced on the market. His interest piqued, Pauné began experimenting with the idea of manufacturing such a lens. In 2008, he enrolled in the UPC-Barcelona Tech’s Master’s Degree in Optometry and Vision Sciences, which required him to complete a master’s thesis. In the course of his research for the thesis, he reviewed the literature and decided to design and manufacture a new model of contact lens, which he tested on ten people. One of these patients, an individual determined to find a solution to ongoing vision problems, tried six different models of the lens, each for a period of one week. With this patient, Pauné found the key to developing the first effective contact lens for hyperopia. In the process, he discovered that his technical and scientific principles were different from those of contact lens models used for myopia. Jaume Pauné (Barcelona, 1964) graduated from the College of Optics and Optometry of Terrassa at the top of his class in 1991. He recently completed the Master’s Degree in Optometry and Vision Sciences, also at the UPC-Barcelona Tech, with a master’s thesis that led to the creation of a new contact lens. In 1992, he received the National Award of the Spanish Association of Opticians and Optometrists for his work on contact lenses for controlling myopia. He currently works as an optician and optometrist at the Teknon Medical Center in Barcelona and at his own clinic, the Marsden Vision Therapy Center. He plans to complete a doctoral thesis investigating how to create new contact lenses for people with keratoconus, an eye disorder that affects two out of every 1,000 people. While contact lenses are essential to treating keratoconus, the disorder presents numerous obstacles to their effective use.