Quote:
Originally Posted by troyohchatter
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. |
Hi troyohchatter,
Welcome to Lens 101. I spotted your post and decided to check into it myself. I haven't done extensive research, but let me tell you what I've found so far.
According to AirOptix.com: "Air Optix® Aqua
contact lenses were introduced in 2008 as an upgrade to O2Optix® contact lenses.
With the Aqua Moisture System, Air Optix® Aqua lenses provide moisture for comfort on contact, all day, every day. They’re so comfortable that from the moment you put them in you may hardly notice them."
It doesn't sound like they're trying to play up Air Optix Aqua as being something totally different from O2 Optix. It's an upgrade. Air Optix.com says that the Aqua Moisture System--which makes the Air Optix Aqua an improvement over O2 Optix--"lubricates, maintains and sustains" the lenses better. Here's a link for you to check out.
http://www.airoptix.com/ecp/aqua/AQUA_Moisture.shtml
What you're saying sounds like "'Confirmed: Cheeseburger=Hamburger.' Don't buy cheeseburgers. I looked at the ingredients and they have the same ground beef patty, the same bread-like round bun, and the same ketchup, mustard, onion and pickle as a hamburger, yet they cost 10% more. What a ripoff!"
Do you see what I'm saying? No one's trying to tell you that a cheeseburger is a hundred times better than a hamburger, but it is different and if you like the difference that slice of cheese-like substance makes, you're willing to pay the difference. If you don't, have a hamburger and keep the change.
If you try Air Optix and you don't think they're all that much different than O2 Optix, then by all means, stick to the O2 Optix.
Do we all feel better now?