Dow Jones ran an article last week speculating on the possible impact the recent contact lens solution infections will have on daily contact lens sales. This comes after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control issued a warning last month of a possible connection between the “Acanthamoeba keratitis” eye infections and a lens solution made by Advanced Medical Optics Inc. This is the third case of a suspected infection among top brand contact lens solutions over the past year.

According to the article the common perception among analysts, doctors and contact lens manufacturers is that the ongoing concern of infections with the use of monthly or yearly lenses (requiring cleaning with solutions) could boost the sales of daily contact lenses. Using daily contact lenses eliminates this concern since a new pair is used each day and no cleaning solution is required.

So far sales of daily contact lenses in the United States only account for a small percent of contact lens sales due to their higher price tag. However recent sales and rebates offered by the leading manufacturers have drastically reduced the price of these lenses for consumers. Ciba Vision the manufacturer of Focus Dailies contact lenses as well as Focus Dailies Toric and Focus Dailies Progressives (the only daily contact lenses available for patients with astigmatism and patients requiring multifocal lenses) have recently come out with a $200 rebate on a yearly supply of Focus Dailies. This brings the price of their popular daily lenses pretty close to the cost of monthly lenses.