In-Depth Paper and Companion Expert Video Series Explore 25 Years of SiHy Contact Lenses

Friday, October 10 2025 | 09 h 56 min | News

A new peer-reviewed paper and companion video series that explores the 25-year history, reach, and impact of silicone hydrogel (SiHy) contact lenses are now available for the eye care community. Both feature perspectives from experts in the field and are intended for eye care professionals (ECPs), educators, and students to further extend their knowledge about the material and fitting opportunities.

Authored by Karen Walsh, Lyndon Jones, Philip Morgan, Eric Papas, and Anna Sulley, Topical Review: Twenty-Five Years of Silicone Hydrogel Soft Contact Lenses can be read online or downloaded from Optometry and Vision Science, the journal of the American Academy of Optometry. 

Filmed at the 2025 BCLA Clinical Conference, the multi-part video series expands on the written review with insightful commentary from Professors Jones, Morgan, and Papas, including their views on where SiHy developments are headed. The first segment can be watched at  https://vimeo.com/1119617337. Additional segments, spotlighting several prominent ECPs who share how actively prescribing SiHy contact lenses enhances their practice and the wearer experience, are slated to follow in the coming months. 

“A quarter century after being introduced, silicone hydrogels are the clear contact lens material of choice for eye care professionals, representing about 75% of all daily wear soft lens fits.  Beyond the white eye benefits of high oxygen transmissibility, contemporary SiHy provides wearers with comfortable contact lenses that they can wear for long hours, and which are available in virtually every prescription,” said Karen Walsh, the paper’s first author and Senior Director of Global Professional Affairs at CooperVision.

“SiHy’s adoption curve also lets us look ahead to the future of contact lens technologies. Similar to how recommending silicone hydrogel has become everyday behavior across the profession, I believe the same will happen with other aspects of practice, such as myopia management and widespread multifocal contact lens use for presbyopia.”

The paper and video series are funded by CooperVision as part of its ongoing commitment to advancing global eye care, including its MyDay^®, clariti^® 1 day, Avaira Vitality^®, and Biofinity^® families of silicone hydrogel contact lenses.

Click HERE for the press release.

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