Bausch & Lomb Introduces the Zyoptix System, First Personalized Laser Vision Correction Solution Now Available in Canada.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

ROCHESTER, N.Y.--(BW HealthWire)--June 26, 2001

Leading Edge Technology Designed to Deliver Visual Improvement

Beyond Other Available Treatments, Including Improved Ability to

Diagnose Night Vision Disturbances

Bausch & Lomb (NYSE:BOL), the global leader in innovative eye care technology, announced that its patented personalized laser vision correction system, Zyoptix(Infinity)(TM), is now available in Canada.

Canadians interested in surgical vision correction can now choose truly personalized laser eye surgery. Using advanced diagnostic tools to determine the unique features of each eye, Bausch & Lomb's Zyoptix system is the first to integrate both topographic and wavefront diagnostic information for personalized laser vision correction.

In addition to offering a customized vision correction solution, this advanced technology offers patients the potential for better outcomes.

Early results from the first Zyoptix systems utilized commercially in Europe indicate that patients treated with Zyoptix appear to have improved results compared with the company's current LASIK Planoscan laser.

The Zyoptix commercial data shows that at the 1-month visit, 47 percent of eyes had a 1-to-2 line improvement in Best Corrected Visual Acuity. At three months, this had increased to 55 percent of patients with a 1-to-2 line gain in Best Corrected Visual Acuity.

At the one-month follow-up, the data from the Zyoptix commercial sites indicated that the average post-surgery uncorrected visual acuity was equivalent to the pre-operative best corrected visual acuity.

"The Zyoptix system provides doctors with the opportunity to take laser vision correction to the next level and offers a truly personalized LASIK procedure for each patient," said Doug Friesen, director of surgical operations for Bausch & Lomb Canada.

Zyoptix: The Personalized Vision Solution

Current LASIK (Laser in-situ Keratomileusis) surgery is accomplished through a set of algorithms or mathematic formulas that are pre-programmed into the laser's computer. These formulas are based on the average refractive errors generally found in patients undergoing LASIK surgery.

Laser surgery using these average formulas produce very good results in a large number of patients. Pre-operative diagnostics, including topography, are routinely performed, but an analysis of the eye's entire optical system was simply unavailable prior to the introduction of the Zyoptix system.

Bausch & Lomb's Zyoptix system offers a new way of looking at the eye. The information gathered by the advanced diagnostics of the Zywave(TM) wavefront analysis device is combined with that of an advanced corneal mapping system, the Orbscan(TM) II. With this complete information of the eye's optical system, surgeons may now design individually tailored treatments for their patients.

Jeffery J. Machat, M.D., national medical director and co-founder of TLC Laser Eye Centers is impressed with this technology stating, "Post-surgery results from the Bausch & Lomb Zyoptix system have exceeded our expectations," Machat said. "Many of my patients who have undergone treatment with the Zyoptix system have gained one line or better of best corrected visual acuity and experience few or no side effects, including few night vision disturbances."

Machat is one of the early users of the Zyoptix system in his Toronto, BCE Place Centre.

"Unlike any other LASIK technology, the Zyoptix system for personalized vision correction takes into account the eye's complete optical system to deliver the most precise procedure and clinical outcome," said Gordon Balazsi, M.D., of the Laservue Eye Centre in Montreal.

"This advanced technology is so impressive, I had the procedure done myself, and am now seeing better than 20/20," said Marc Mullie, M.D., also of the Laservue Eye Centre. "My personal experience validates what we've been seeing with our patients -- that Zyoptix provides the opportunity to achieve better results."

Patient Benefits

By tailoring this customized procedure to the individual characteristics of each patient eye, Bausch & Lomb's Zyoptix system has the potential to:

-- Enable surgeons to improve the visual performance of the eye through more
extensive diagnosis of aberrations and creation of a customized surgical
profile that treats these aberrations.

-- Give surgeons the ability to diagnose night vision disturbances.

-- Minimize post-surgical glare and halos from treating wider optical zones by
removing 15 percent to 20 percent less tissue compared with the software
currently used on the Technolas 217 laser.

ELEMENTS OF THE ZYOPTIX SYSTEM:

Technolas 217 Excimer Laser

The platform for Zyoptix is Bausch & Lomb's Technolas 217 excimer laser system, a worldwide leader in LASIK vision correction. The Technolas 217 is a true-scanning, flying-spot laser. For Zyoptix treatments, the laser utilizes spot sizes of 1 and 2 mm in diameter, as well as a proprietary beam profile to deliver the treatment.

The Zywave Aberrometer

The Zywave, Bausch & Lomb's newest diagnostic device, is designed to identify abnormalities throughout the entire optical system by using wavefront technology. In this technology, a beam of light is reflected off the retina to identify abnormalities. In eyes where there is an abnormality, the measurement of the variations between the actual direction of the outgoing beams of the light and their optimal positions determines the overall aberration of the eye.

Orbscan II

The Orbscan II is a multi-dimensional diagnostic system that enables eye surgeons to map both the anterior and posterior surface of the cornea, as well as a screening device for pachymetry (measurement of the thickness of the cornea).

By mapping the entire corneal surface, the surgeon can detect any imperfections in elevation or curvature that might impact the expected surgical results.

Bausch & Lomb Inc. is the global technology-based, health-care company for the eye, dedicated to helping consumers see, look and feel better through innovative technology and design.

Its core business includes soft and rigid gas permeable contact lenses, lens care products and ophthalmic surgical and pharmaceutical products. The company is advantaged with some of the most respected brands in the world starting with its name, Bausch & Lomb, and including SofLens66(TM), PureVision(TM), Boston(R), ReNu(R) and Storz(R).

Founded in 1853 in Rochester, where it continues to have its headquarters, the company has annual revenues of more than $1.8 billion and employs approximately 12,000 people in 35 countries. Bausch & Lomb products are available in more than 100 countries around the world.

This news release contains among other things, certain statements of a forward-looking nature relating to future events or the future business performance of Bausch & Lomb. Such statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties including those concerning economic conditions, currency exchange rates, product development and introduction, the financial well-being of key customers, the successful execution of marketing strategies, the continued successful implementation of the restructuring effort in reducing costs and expenses of manufacturing processes and administrative functions, as well as the risk factors listed from time to time in the company's SEC filings, including but not limited to the Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Dec. 25, 2000.