| Bausch & Lomb Contact lenses have long been | | | | astigmatism. The last division of the company is its |
| one of the most recognised names in optical care. | | | | cataract and vitreoretinal surgery division. This part of |
| However, the market is becoming more difficult all | | | | the company manufactures tools for use in surgery |
| the time. Countless firms now have entered the | | | | for various eye related conditions. |
| market. They offer all sorts of different products, | | | | Lens care is more developed than most contact lens |
| but the main battle remains between the company's | | | | manufacturers lens care divisions, Acuvue for |
| long term rivals Acuvue and Ciba vision. As they | | | | example doesn't manufacture contact lens solutions |
| struggle for control of innovative new technologies, | | | | at all. The company however manufacture ReNu |
| which of these three giants is best placed to | | | | solutions which are popular multipurpose solutions that |
| succeed? | | | | are currently trying to recover from a product recall |
| Unlike most contact lens manufacturers it is only part | | | | in 2006. They also manufacture lens care for rigid |
| of the larger brand. For the manufacturer Ciba Vision, | | | | lenses under the brand name Boston which puts |
| for example, they are part of a larger pharmaceutical | | | | Bausch & Lomb lenses against smaller |
| company, Novartis, but the brand Ciba Vision only | | | | manufacturers such as Lucid, as the soft lens |
| refers to contact lens manufacturing and solutions. | | | | manufacturers tend not to make rigid lenses. |
| Let's look at the larger company first. It divides its | | | | Recently Bausch & Lomb contact lenses have |
| business into five core areas, two of which are | | | | been in competition both in the market and in the |
| contact lenses and solutions. The other areas are | | | | court room over the development of silicon hydrogel |
| pharmaceuticals for eye conditions such as | | | | contact lenses branded by Bausch and Lomb as |
| conjunctivitis, cataract and vitreoretinal surgey | | | | Purevision. Ciba Vision's patent rights in the USA for a |
| instruments and refractive laser surgery tools. | | | | time prohibited Purevision contacts being sold there |
| The pharmaceutical division of the company | | | | until agreement was reached. Acuvue's Oasys and |
| manufactures a number of eye drop treatments such | | | | Cooper Vision's Biofinity are in similar situations. |
| Besivance an anti bacterial used to treat conjunctivitis. | | | | The company is now no longer a public company |
| The smallest part of the company, it's refractive | | | | listed on the NYSE. It was taken over by the private |
| surgery division, manufactures equipment for | | | | equity firm Warburg Pincus. However core to success |
| corrective eye surgery such as the often advertised | | | | of Bausch & Lomb Contact lenses will be the |
| LASIK surgery. This surgery reshapes a person's | | | | question of whether its products can stand up to the |
| cornea to adjust for myopia, hyperopia or | | | | competition. |