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The Spanish matador who lost his left eye in a horrific goring made a remarkable return to the ring last Sunday. Juan José Padilla, dubbed The Pirate because of the eye-patch he now wears, was given one of the highest accolades when his fellow bullfighters carried him out from the arena following the fight. Despite not having two-eyed stereoscopic vision to judge distances and the speed of approaching objects accurately, he showed little trouble killing his first bull in front of a crowd of 5,400.

He had previously said he was returning to the ring because of a need 'to win, to triumph, to be a better man'. Sunday's bullfight was the first time Padilla had professionally fought since October, when he was seen hobbling from a Zaragoza ring covered in blood screaming 'I can't see'. He was wounded in October after he slipped on the sand, a bull's horn pierced his jaw and it came out through his eye. The crowds at the Zaragoza's Fiestas Del Pilar bullfight at the Misericordia ring were left stunned. He then underwent a life-saving five-hour operation to repair severe damage to his eye, bone, muscle and skin - his face reconstructed with titanium plates and mesh. 

After more than a decade on the market, extended-wear (EW) contact lenses still haven't caught on among patients and eye care professionals, reports the February issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins , a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. Despite their advantages, EW contact lenses—which can be worn continuously for up to a month— account for less than eight percent of contact lens prescriptions. The study was based on an analysis of worldwide prescribing data, led by Nathan Efron, BScOptom, PhD, DSc, of Queensland University of Technology, Australia.

Worldwide Data Show Stalled Growth in EW Lens Prescribing The researchers analyzed 14 years of data (1997 through 2010) on contact lens fittings by eye care professionals in 39 countries. They analyzed trends in EW contact lens prescribing, including patient and characteristics and fitting patterns. Extended-wear contact lenses made of an oxygen-permeable silicone hydrogel material first came on the market in the late 1990s. Modern EW lenses are designed to be left in the eye day and night for up to a month, without the need for daily removal and cleaning. The data suggested that use of EW lenses peaked in 2006, when they accounted for 12 percent of all soft contact lens prescriptions. However, the rate decreased in more recent years, falling to 7.8 percent in 2010. The rate varied between countries, ranging up to 27 percent in Norway.

Certain groups of patients were more likely to receive EW lenses, including men, older patients, and those not receiving their first contact lens prescription ("refits"). Efron and coauthors speculate that EW lenses are more likely to be prescribed for older patients who are experienced with contact lenses—and perhaps better able to afford the higher cost of EW lenses. Some men may prefer EW lenses because of their convenience for sports participation.

Most patients with EW lenses used some form of lens care solution. That suggested that they remove and store their lenses at least occasionally, rather than wearing them full time for the entire month. Nearly 30 percent of EW lens prescriptions were for conventional hydrogel lenses—possibly because they are less expensive than newer silicone hydrogel lenses designed specifically for 30-day extended wear.

Safety Concerns Are Key Issue "Despite the obvious benefits of lifestyle convenience" associated with EW lenses, "it seems that practitioners still prefer to prescribe, and patients prefer to wear, contact lenses for daily wear," Dr Efron and coauthors write. The drop in EW lens prescriptions during the mid-2000s may partly reflect the introduction of silicone hydrogel lenses designed for daily use. But safety concerns are probably the key factor behind the limited acceptance of EW lenses, Dr Efron and colleagues believe. The first EW lenses introduced to the market were associated with high complication rates. The problems were mostly eliminated by the current generation of oxygen-permeable silicone hydrogel lenses.

The rate of severe keratitis with modern EW lenses is low, around 20 cases per 10,000 lens wearers per year. However, that's higher than the 4 per 10,000 annual rate for daily contact lens wearers. Dr. Efron and coauthors conclude, "EW prescribing…is unlikely to become a mainstream lens wearing modality until the already low risks of ocular complications can be reduced to be equivalent to that for daily wear." 

Mishaps at two Swedish hospitals involving medical glue resulted in children having their eyes glued shut, Swedish officials said. One of the toddlers had to undergo emergency surgery to correct the error, The Local reported Friday. A 22-month-old boy was taken to a hospital emergency room in Gothenburg after he fell and cut his forehead. After the attending physician treated the wound using a medical glue, some of it trickled down from the injury into the boy's eye, the parents said.

"When it was over and the doctor seemed 'satisfied,' we discovered that our son couldn't open his eye," the parents wrote in a report filed with Sweden's National Board of Health and Welfare. The boy had to be rushed to specialist clinic where he was sedated in order to have his eye surgically opened, the parents said. In a similar incident in northern Sweden, a 4-year-old had an eye glued shut while being treated for a cut above the eyebrow. Both cases involved a water-based medical glue known as LiquiBand that dissolves over time. Neither child suffered any long-term injuries from the eye-gluing incidents, The Local reported.