By Sarah McGoldrick
All eyes are on the hottest new lens technology as 2014 marks the release of several exciting new products.
Leading the way is the highly anticipated Signature VII from Transitions featuring Chromea7 technology.
The lenses are designed to react faster to changes in light and provide wearers with a better visual experience.
“We know that a patient’s needs vary and that they want to have choices. One size does not fit all so we continue to focus on the family of products,” said Senior Development Engineer Mickey Matson.
The Chromea7 Technology offers an exclusive dye formulation that allows lenses to be more responsive in a variety of lighting conditions.
The colour hues are also more aesthetically pleasing than its predecessor the Transitions VI. The grey is a more neutral hue, offering true-to-life colour, while the brown filters out more of the blue-indigo- violet colour which is found in scattered light.
It also helps better perceive reds and greens through enhanced contrast.
Matson says the research and development team at Transitions is constantly looking for new ways to make dealing with the influence of light less challenging for people who wear glasses.
“Our goal is to ensure we offer the products that match the needs and desires of consumers, so we will continue to invest research to uncover unmet needs,” he said. “We are constantly looking beyond clearer, darker, faster to the next technology breakthrough that will change the industry.”
Diagnostics
Helping patients find the right lenses can often be the most difficult part of creating a pair of glasses. Though there are many tools available, it isn’t always easy to get the exact lens for a person’s individual needs.
The Maid2Measure Dispensing Assistant by Montreal based company Optikam has made it easier for eyecare providers (ECPs) to make more accurate prescriptions.
Opticians are still using the same basic tools that have been on the market for more than two decades such as a Sharpie pen, ruler, pupillometer, mirror and static brochures.
“The Maid2Measure technology allows patients to better understand the products that are being presented to them and allows opticians to capture all the measurements needed to order the personalized lenses using one single frontal image,” said Bassem El-Hajal, Vice President of Sales for Optikam.
He noted Maid2Measure is a Canadian innovation that helps Canadian patients understand the benefit of the new lenses available on the market.
Maid2Measure captures the monocular PDs based on the way the frames are fitted on the patient’s face. It gives the optician an opportunity to explain the importance of fitting the frames prior to ordering their lenses, as monocular PDs could change from one frame to another, which is not the cause of the monocular PD measurements using a pupillometer.
He added in Europe, ECPs have embraced electronic centration solutions for more than 10 years. Now more than 60 per cent of offices use an electronic centration solution in their dispensary. This trend is arriving quickly in North America. Offices that embrace this technology and inform their patients that they can offer them a unique experience with this technology, will benefit from a huge competitive edge.
“Given that lenses are becoming more and more personalized and require more measurements than just pupillary distance and seg heights, it is becoming more challenging for the ECP to use manual tools to capture all of those measurements,” he said. “The Maid2Measure technology captures all the measurements needed to order any type of lens on the market using one single frontal image. It is also a great troubleshooting tool for the optician as profiles can be saved on the iPad to be viewed at a later date.”
The Maid2Measure is the only product on the market that captures all the eyewear measurements using one single frontal image. It is also the only product that is designed in Canada.
A Different View
Many people who wear glasses often find the level of clarity to be just short of perfect. This can create eye strain and make wearing glasses even more difficult.
Shamir Canada has developed a balanced progressive lens holistically adapted to the patient’s prescription. The result is a clear and comfortable visual experience.
“Like all of our lenses, Autograph III is a full back-side freeform lens. The power range is very wide, with cylinder available up to -9.00 (this is quite rare) and the material choice in transitions and polarized is very deep, quite unique in the market,” said Martin Bell, National Sales and Marketing Manager for Shamir Canada.
He notes the lens creates an image size that is closer to natural size, and is well balanced between plus and minus prescriptions. He says plus lenses will often give the wearer a magnified image but with a smaller field of view than with uncorrected eyes.
To address this, Shamir has applied reverse engineering to its technology by defining the size of the object patients want to see and simulating real world images through EyePoint TechnologyIII. This provides improved viewing for all patients regardless of lens power and frame choice.
“Image positions are different between a plus and minus lens. This means that minus wearers usually have to look very low in the lens to read properly, and plus wearers have the near image displaced upward which can “cramp” their distance area,” he said.
