Going H-Eye Tech

How outside-the-box eyewear introductions can change the way you do business

By Karlen McLean, ABOC, NCLC

New lenses offer new ways to look at standards and operations in your practice. Take time to reassess how these lens technologies can help you enter new markets and profit in ways you never thought possible. Here's a look at some of the latest eye-catching and thought-provoking high-tech eyewear introductions.

ELECTRONIC AND LIQUID

At press time, there were two new groundbreaking technologies vying for the presbyopic public's attention.

PixelOptics, Inc.'s, emPower! electronic eyewear, slated for regional launch in late 2010 and first quarter 2011 national release, along with Zoom Focus Eyewear LLC Trufocals liquid lenses, currently on the market, are hoping to change the way we look at—and see out of—lenses.

■ ELECTRONIC. PixelOptics' emPower! lenses, a higher-tech continuation of the company's composite lens technology, uses liquid crystal sandwiched between two traditionalmaterial lenses.

A low-wattage electric charge passes through the liquid crystal, which changes shape, altering the focal range "within a blink of an eye" to the wearer's gaze, be it far, intermediate, or near focus.

This is accomplished in three ways: automatic, manual on, and manual off.

Wearers can press a button on the side of the frame to make lenses adapt, or leave it to sensors that make automatic adjustments according to gaze. Additionally, the near view can be turned off when not in use.

"For most patients, less than 30 percent of their day is in the world of near vision needs," explains Larry Rodriguez, senior vice president global marketing and sales for PixelOptics. The answer from "emPower!: Take near power out of the lens when it's not needed and add it back when the patient needs and wants it."

The lenses have a rechargeable, hidden battery and require the use of a charging cradle. They take three to four hours to charge and can hold a charge for three to four days.

PixelOptics' emPower! is not a PAL. It's positioned as a no-line, noadaptation replacement for bifocals, multifocals, and PALs. "Control how we see" is one of the early taglines.

Aspex Eyewear, the partner company licensed to provide frames for PixelOptics' emPower! lenses, is planning on providing a variety of frame styles and colors in plastic, metal, and rimless designs.

An agreement with Transitions will allow that company's photochromic technology to be part of the package. Labs with Shamir's Prescriptor software and free-form production capabilities will be able to produce emPower! lenses.

Digital performance and 3D technologies are advancing. Images courtesy of (left) Gunnar Optiks and (right) Marchon 3D

■ LIQUID. Zoom Focus Eyewear's Trufocals technology mimics the human eye, creating a biomimetic product that adjusts to focus on objects at all distances, offering bilateral tracking and Rx correction.

Trufocals are a complete customized package. One frame style, shaped like the human eye for the best vision, and available in many sizes and colors, features a "slider" on the bridge so patients can adjust lens focus as desired.

The viewing platform is comprised of two lenses, one flexible and one firm, with the flexible lens closest to the eye and featuring a transparent distensible membrane attached to a clear rigid surface.

The space between the membrane and the clear rigid surface holds "a small quantity of clear optical fluid," and as the user moves the slider on the bridge, the fluid is pushed forward to alter the shape of that membrane, which in turn alters the flexible lens and changes its focus. This allows users to adjust their own focus at any distance.

"The eye's crystalline lens changes shape; Trufocals do, too," says Stephen Kurtin, PhD, chief technology officer of Zoom Focus Eyewear LLC. "Visual tracking is dual rather than monocular and the user can set depth of focus to meet a vast range of Rx demands."

All Trufocals lenses include AR. The front lens snaps on and off and can be changed to a photochromic option (polarized is slated for the future). A slim case with lens holder is also part of the package.

Both PixelOptics and Zoom Focus are reaching out to potential customers through dynamic website presentations and social media. Wearer testimonials, awards, articles in consumer magazines, and YouTube videos are also part of their marketing mix.

DIGITAL VIEWING

Lenses designed specifically for digital device users and for 3D viewing are the latest spin on niches that have the potential to appeal to a broader market as digital device use increases and 3D movies and TV programming expands.

Performance and comfort are key words here, since 3D viewing requires 3D glasses to see the show, and digital device users' eyes tire despite the desire to keep gaming.

Some examples of recent partnerships, like Carl Zeiss Vision with Gunnar Optiks and Marchon with RealD, Inc., offer digital-device and 3D-viewing solutions.

Taking a cue from today's styleconscious technology-consumer, these companies offer non-Rx and Rxable, good-looking eyewear with specialized visual performance.

TruFocals technology mimics the human eye. Image courtesy of Zoom Focus Eyewear LLC

Digital Eye Fatigue (DEF) is one side effect experienced by users of the advanced computer technology during a typical work day. Carl Zeiss Vision-Gunnar Optiks lenses address DEF, a subset of computer vision syndrome (CVS) that occurs when people use computers, iPads, iPods, PDAs, mobile phones, and other digital devices all day.

Easing DEF is more than helping users see the screen, it's also about solving problems with ergonomics, light (fluorescent wavelengths behind the screen), and alleviating conditions like dry, blurry, and itchy eyes that affect comfort and performance.

Recent eyewear innovations include free-form/digitally surfaced lenses and electronic technology. Images courtesy of (above) Seiko Eyewear and (below) PixelOptics

DIGITALLY SURFACED AND WAVEFRONT

Free-form/digital surfacing drives efficiency throughout the optical food chain. From the manufacturing and production standpoint, designs can be launched into the marketplace quickly, and for virtually any visual demand.

Fully automated production lines are unfolding, speeding up accuracy and turnaround. One result? From expedited delivery to an enhanced visual experience, patient satisfaction improves. Remarkable leaps and bounds in digital lens design are escalating, and that pace is expected to continue into the future.

Some of the recent introductions to the digitally surfaced marketplace include the following:

■ Designs that are wavefrontevaluated and produced to eliminate higher-order aberrations (Ophthonix, Essilor of America, Carl Zeiss Vision).
■ New options that feature extrathin designs (Seiko Surmount).
■ Lenses with integrated doublesided digital models (HOYA's HOYALux iD).

The goals of digital design and production are to:

■ Correct visual distortions, including swim and sway effect, and peripheral or other aberrations.
■ Offer wide fields of view at all distances and faster adaptation in all zones.
■ Allow for crisp, clean vision to reduce visual fatigue.

These lens designs are often enhanced with aspheric/atoric properties to further improve cosmetics and performance.

Wearing comfort is enhanced by reducing unnatural physical compensations such as head movement; utilizing thin and lightweight materials and design; opting for antireflection treatment to counter annoying reflections and glare; and ensuring superior scratch resistance.

In short, visual performance is like never before, which is why much of the optical marketplace is working toward "all digital, all the time." EB