A new 30-day continuous wear contact lens might become available at the Ohio State College of Optometry.Pending approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the lenses allow more oxygen to reach the eye so a person can wear them for weeks at a time. The lenses also reduce the risk of eye infection, shown in research currently underway at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.Greg Nixon, clinical instructor at OSU’s optometry college, predicts OSU eye practitioners will prescribe the new lenses with caution because of the possible risks of infections. Since 1987, the FDA has not approved contact lenses to be worn safely more than six nights in a row.”It isn’t common that we tell someone to use contacts for extended wear,” said Joseph Barr, associate professor of optometry at OSU.Sean Conroy, a fourth-year OSU medical student, recently switched to wearing Acuvueextended wear contacts overnight. Conroy said his ophthalmologist recommended wearing the disposable extensive wear soft contact lens around the clock for two weeks. “Wearing extended wear contacts is convenient when I’m on call at the hospital,” Conroy said. “Unlike the daily wear I used to have, I don’t have to worry about washing them out every night,” he said.After five days of continuous wear, Conroy said he is pleased with the new contacts. Although OSU does not recommend the approved extended wear contact lenses for overnight use, Barr said extensive wear contacts are beneficial for wearers who work long hours.Dr. H. Dwight Cavanagh, vice chairman of ophthalmology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, predicts a new extended wear contact lens might be safer and longer-lasting than current extended and daily wear contact lenses.Cavanagh’s latest research demonstrates that a new soft contact lens, made of plastic, allows twice as much oxygen to reach the cornea as soft lenses currently on the market, lowering the risk of infections.Cavanagh’s test subjects wore the new high-oxygen soft contact lenses continuously for three months.The FDA has approved the 30-day extended wear testing of ultra-permeable lenses made by Bausch & Lomb and CIBA Vision.