Single Vision Lenses

Reenergize, reestablish, or establish a successful single vision approach in your practice

Karlen McLean, ABOC, NCLC

Single vision lenses are today's hot premium lens category. And now is the time to fulfill your segment selling potential, making single vision a top performer in your practice.

Three overall business steps, and a sharp category focus, will help you along.

SIMPLE STEPS

Three better-business steps may be all you need to reenergize, reestablish, or establish a successful single vision approach in your practice.

1 First, change the way you think about single vision. Traditionally, single vision lenses have been a commodity product. The only differentiation was what material and treatments the lens was built with (e.g., Trivex and photochromic).

Today, single vision lens design is front and center. Customized single vision, for example, is ideal for independent practices because customized lenses mirror the personalized care that independents are known for, making it a practice touchpoint.

At least one major lens manufacturer has found that customizing increases visual acuity by around 40 percent; wouldn't you like your patients to see 40 percent more clearly?

2 Second the ability to understand and execute expert fitting and measurement of many single vision lenses, especially wrap designs, is as crucial to success as in-depth product knowledge.

Today's single vision technology isn't just about taking a pupillary distance measurement with a PD ruler. Knowing how to fit and measure single vision wrap lenses is as critical as knowing when they're appropriate or not appropriate for each patient's unique lifestyle, work style, and eye style.

3 And third, think and act as though single vision is your new primary, premium lens category. Show and tell younger patients what quality eyewear really looks like.

Once educated, these patients are more likely to stop treating eyewear as a commodity product and looking for inexpensive ways to purchase it.

For example, customized single vision, which requires measurements gleaned by using specialized tools, can really ‘wow' young customers with both technology application and the fact that each stage in the lenses creation process is conducted particularly for each of their eyes.

WRAP HAPPY

Wrap frame styles have steadily climbed in popularity, especially in the sports category. And now that wraps can be successfully fit with Rx lenses, many companies have proprietary fabrication facilities (either their own lab or specified partner labs) specifically targeted for the best lens results for their frame brands.

These arrangements can call for adhering to manufacturer-specific, systematic best practices in fitting, measuring, and dispensing, and ECPs who partner with them are trained to work with the company's products and procedures.

LAB-BASED TIPS. Correct beveling matters with rimless and wraps perhaps more than any other frame type. Labs equipped for wrap bevels often have machinery that's earmarked for specialized beveling, such as step-beveling.

If lenses require tinting, it's likely done in stages, especially for dark tints. Baking a tint before applying AR can yield better results, but this isn't always consistent.

COMPENSATION. Simply, wrap lenses must be compensated in order for the end-user to see properly out of their lenses. If wrap lenses aren't compensated, a prismatic jump is likely to occur, displacing the viewed image in a chopped and unsettling way.

Compensating the Rx resolves the prismatic effect, smoothing the view. One example of compensation, supplied by Hoya Vision Care North America: −4.00D sphere Rx, when compensated, results in a −3.75, −0.25 x 180 Rx with 0.6 prism base in.

Wrap angle and pantoscopic angle plug into a compensation system to calculate the result as close to as-worn position as possible.

Most laboratories supply a compensated prescription, along with the data as prescribed, on their invoice, and may include the wrap and pantoscopic angles as part of the compensation print-out.

A simple explanation of wrap lens' configuration is provided by Ignacio “Iggy” Fernandez, regional vice president, Hoya Vision Care Dallas. “The primary optical effect of wrapping a powered Rx lens is an offset in the prism and power of the lens as perceived by the wearer. The fact that the wearer looks through a lens differently when it's wrapped is the key.”

From another perspective, Fernandez adds: “If you take an ordinary flat lens of a certain Rx power and introduce wrap (face form tilt), the lens will still read the original Rx only when measured along the original optical center and visual axis of the lens. However, in the new wrap configuration, the wearer is now looking through the lens on a different optical axis corresponding to the wrapped positioning.”

SV TECHNICALITIES

Success dispensing today's premium single vision lenses, especially the customized variety, resides in ultra-precise fitting and measurements. More—and accurate—measurements are required, calling for specialized measuring tools, or at least the expert use of standard measuring tools.

Some examples of specialized proprietary measuring tools include: Shamir Insight's Panorameter Kit, the iTerminal from Carl Zeiss Vision, and the VisiOffice system from Essilor of America.

Look into measurement tools that can also act as demonstration units. For example, some measuring tools demonstrate AR, polarization, and much more. These upscale tools often require that you are vested in that particular company's lens products. This will initially cost your practice at least a few thousand dollars, if not more, with product rebates tied to future lens sales.

Before dispensing, verify the power using the manufacturer's or lab's verification invoice. This form should provide both the prescribed and compensated powers. Check the compensated Rx power, usually at the Prism Reference Point (PRP), often located at 4mm below the fitting cross and midway between the lens brand engravings. This is also where you check for prism imbalance.

At dispensing:

1. Verify the lenses again.
2. Re-apply ink markings using a verification mask and a felt-tip pen if the markings have been taken off.
3. Make sure the fitting cross is located at pupil's center when worn.
4. Check frame adjustment, including pantoscopic angle, face form/wrap angle, as well as back vertex distance.
5. Deliver the certificate of authenticity and cleaning cloth or kit.

These steps can be applied to any lens type, but are especially important with wrap and customized prescription lenses. They help ensure high quality vision while demonstrating premium service value. EB