I just started wearing contacts and was provided with a pair of O2 Optix. I suspected that with the various branding changes and such that Air Optix Aqua and O2 Optix were the same and went off to find concrete proof. Then I found it, the smoking gun, a few of them actually:

1. The most damning evidence is the package insert.

http://procare.cibavision.com/pdf/o2o_pi.pdf

Notice everything, EVERYTHING is the same for O2 optix and Air Optix to include the wearing schedule of 6 days straight or 4 weeks with daily cleaning and such. IN fact, if you go to the us cibavision website, click on Air Optix, then click on their product sheet, it goes to the VERY SAME URL AS ABOVE, the O2 Optix PDF.

2. If you click on the "O2 Optix" website, it goes to the Air Optix website.

3. O2 Optix are not specified anywhere "current" as a 2 week change, only that they can be worn 6 days without removal.

4. The small packet that holds the lens does not specify 02 or Air, just that it's a "Cibavison Spherical.

So, after seeing this and other items, I pieced together what happened. So here we go:

FDA approves Silicon Hydragel for a 2 week wear period. O2 Optix hit the market. Then the FDA approves Silicon Hydragel for a one month wearing period. Now what this does is lowers the manufacturers revenue by 50% as the lenses now last twice as long. What to do, what to do?

Easy? They debut "Air Optix" in the US market as a HUGE IMPROVEMENT and jack up the price. Then they make no effort to publicize that O2 Optix, the very same lens, is also a 4 week lens and, moreover, is the very exact same lense. Just like that, not only do they negate the cost of the FDA extension of the wearing schedule, they add another "product line" for the cost of a differently printed box. BRILLIANT!!!

I hesitate to post this on the Air Optix Aqua section. They might hang me. No one likes to throw money away.