AR For Style: Color Matching

AR enhances vision through reflection reduction. AR can also enhance appearance in obvious and subtle ways. Help your patients get the most from AR, both visually and cosmetically

BY KARLEN MCLEAN, ABOC, NCLC

AR's primary benefit is that it helps patients see more clearly by significantly reducing reflections.

Cosmetically, AR is a hit because it eliminates reflections off lenses, resulting in others being able to see the wearer's eyes. But AR is more than that.

By understanding the many layers of AR, including how AR color matching can enhance eyewear and personal appearance, ECPs can help counsel patients in-depth on AR's visual benefits, as well as the subtleties of matching AR colors to frames and skin tones for a heightened cosmetic effect.

RESIDUALLY SPEAKING

AR inherently has what is known as residual reflectance. Due to its many layers that eliminate reflections in certain wavelengths, minute amounts of reflection remain in other wavelengths. This is what creates a subtle color in AR.

AR lens coatings can help patients see more clearly. Images courtesy of, from top to bottom, Carl Zeiss Vision, Essilor of America, and Hoya

AR residual reflectance is also dependent on the indices of refraction of lens materials, so, for example, the residual reflectance of the same AR in a polycarbonate lens may be different in a high index lens.

AR companies use multiple layers to create their product for many reasons. A primary reason there are so many layers to an AR stack is that this helps eliminate a high percentage of reflections.

Because there are practical manufacturing limitations on how many layers there are to an AR stack, some degree of residual reflectance will occur in all AR-treated lenses.

It's the appearance of residual reflectance that can help enhance eyewear or be a distraction for wearers. You may have had patients return to your practice after wearing their new AR lenses saying something like, "I really like these AR lenses for driving at night, but when I turn my head I notice a (pick one: blue, green, gold, pink) color. What is that?"

You can choose to tell them that it's part of how AR works and they will adapt to it, or you can proactively address residual reflectance during the sale and make AR colors part of the fashion and fun—as well as a medical visual benefit—of selecting new eyewear.

While several companies strive to make AR disappear, others promote "cosmetic AR." At least one firm offers an alternative golden hue that complements skin tones. Generally, companies use colors to differentiate their AR from other companies' AR.

There have been some concerns that various residual reflectance colors may inhibit the viewer's vision. Some colors are more beneficial than others, depending on the mechanics of the eye viewing through the colors.

PRACTICAL MATCH

When ordering one replacement AR lens for an Rx change in one eye, for example, it pays to know the original AR type and lens type, if possible, even down to batch number. Some practices keep the packaging that's returned with lenses and store it with the patient's file, while others log lens info and batch numbers on their computers for future reference.

Depending on the laboratory or coater, color-matching one AR lens to another can be achieved. Send the original lens/job to the lab/coater and ask that they match the AR coating type and color to that lens.

What's important is that the AR is compatible with the type of lens it's being applied to. Most lens treatments today are "index-matched," and therefore compatible with any lens material. This, perhaps more than any other factor, helps make AR perform better and be more durable in the long run. EB