Going Digital
The growing products and prospects for the digital lens arena
By Karlen McLean, ABOC, NCLC
Digital/free-form processing, lenses, equipment, systems, programs… launch after launch confirms that digital is entwining itself into the industry and is a driving force for now and will be more so in the future. Are you aware of all the modes and models that digital can take in the optical industry? Read on to find out.
FOUR PERSPECTIVES
From supplier to end-user, there are four different approaches to and perspectives on free-form.
• MANUFACTURERS: They create the designs, machine-to-mold.
• LABS: They process free-form designs using single-vision blanks and manufacturers' designs.
• ECPS: They focus on free-form product features.
• CONSUMERS: They focus on free-form product benefits.
Definition and terminology tend to be different with each group, and in the case of manufacturers, even among themselves. For example, some vendors use variations on the term free-form, and others call it digital or high-definition.
The Vision Council's Free-form Terminology Task Force has been working on defining terminology that will eliminate confusion industry-wide. This will enable ECPs to get a better handle on what free-form/digital really means and have improved means of explaining it to patients.
The differentiation between free-form and traditional surfacing processing is “making it” vs. “designing it.” In other words, traditional processing is physical—a blank with specific visual parameters is picked, pulled, and manufactured into a prescription lens. With free-form, on the other hand, processing is virtual. The design software (points file) drives the machine to create a precise design on a single-vision blank.
Lens technology is advancing. Image from Carl Zeiss Vision
| IN-OFFICE OPPORTUNITY |
|---|
| According to EB's recent Virtual Focus group ECP responses, the free-form marketplace is changing the industry, and more ECPs are looking into in-office processing. Some key numbers gleaned from the responses: 63.3% Believe free-form will initiate changes in lens purchasing over the next two years. 48.8% Are “very likely” to take additional measurements in order to process personalized lenses. 49.1% Are currently edging lenses in-office versus 50.9 percent who are not; the gap is closing as more practices are edging in-office. 58.5% Are considering in-office lens processing to reduce lens' cost. 5.8% So far, many more ECPs find value (and affordability) in edging than surfacing, but that is poised to change as more ECPs install digital/free-form systems to keep up with marketplace demands. |
DIGITAL JOURNEY
According to EB's recent virtual focus group feedback, 63.3 percent of respondents believe that over the next two years the biggest change in lens purchasing will be an increase in the free-form arena.
Major free-form-focused companies, like Carl Zeiss Vision, Essilor, Hoya The Free-Form Company, Seiko, and Shamir, continue to introduce new branded digital/free-form products at an amazing pace, and often with intriguing twists. These include the advent of measurement tools and equipment specifically targeted to a company's digital lens offerings.
Overseas supply and production, particularly offerings from the Asian region, are being touted for their ability to help cut costs to ECPs. With 24/7 order fulfillment and feasible overnight shipping from overseas locations, the options continue to increase.
The next generation of digital will go far beyond how the eye perceives an image, which can result in precise acuity. At least one major company's research and development team is working on how the human brain perceives an image.
Sunlenses are also digital. Image courtesy of Augen Optics
SHOW FLOOR SHOWOFFS
Some digital/free-form introductions at International Vision Expo West seem like a fast forward into tomorrow.
YOUNGER PATIENTS. Shamir Insight will be introducing FirstPAL in the time frame of Vision Expo East 2012. FirstPAL is designed for 40- to 45-year-olds with a +0.75 to +1.50D add power, ideal for young presbyopes used to moving their eyes only. Shamir's far future plans include a focus on single-vision blanks—what digital designs are processed on.
• RETAIL CENTERS. To date, Ophthonix has created 19 U.S.-based iZon branded, exclusive HD (High Definition) Centers and plans more. The company offers many leveled contracts, from one that provides the exclusive Z-View Aberrometer to another that covers a complete practice remodel, according to a company executive.
• TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS. Equipment suppliers offer a variety of top-notch machinery and programs to help you work with free-form. One approach, which a company executive explains is not designed to compete with those manufacturers, but to put the machinery in a package with the lenses, is the Augen Optics EasyForm Integrated Digital Free Form Processing System. Created to allow even small optical retailers turnkey entry into the digital world. Augen supplies the complete, compact digital processing system and integrated software in a package.
New tools improve lens dispensing. Image courtesy of Essilor
| Redo No-Do |
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| According to The Vision Council's “Lens Returns and Redo Survey” of 2009, a slight majority of job returns/redos (50.4 percent) were standard PALs. Both high-end (38.3 percent) and free-form (11.3 percent) PALs were less likely to be returned or redone; most surveyed ECPs attributed these results to higher associated product quality and more strict quality controls. From the same survey, one out of every five standard PALs was returned or redone, while only one out of every seven high-end PALs and one out of every six free-form PAL jobs had to be returned or redone. Again, technologically superior products and superior higher-end quality control were cited as the reasons. |
BIG TO BOUTIQUE
The proponents of overseas digital/free-form business point to volume discounts that basically permit mid-to-small-sized practices to have the purchasing power and other advantages of large optical retailers.
That said, because research and development can now realize any lens design to solve virtually any visual need, some industry experts are predicting a rise in ultra-specialty lenses provided by “boutique” design houses. This could mean a single lens or multiple specialty lens products, exclusively branded by a new, small, manufacturer or even by or for a particular practice.
With an optical retailer's ability to now own small footprint in-office digital processing equipment along with in-office AR and ancillary equipment and tools to help drive in-office digital labs, some industry pundits suggest that free-form will evolve into simple direct-to-ECP data downloads, like music and book downloads to consumers.
Digital lenses fit many needs. Image courtesy of Hoya Free-Form Company
NEW DIGITAL
Two recently launched companies exemplify the many configurations digital can take.
Innovations Digital Lens Company: Innovations Digital provides an unbranded free-form produced lens alternative—“a holistic solution to the free-form integration puzzle,” as one executive puts it, of unbranded lens designs, system integration, marketing material and assistance, and on-site training and support, with the infrastructure of Innovations and Labzilla management software.
Virtual Lens Express, a division of Virtual Optics Express: This company is building a growing list of ECPs whose combined buying power can compete with larger optical retailers for a quality and service program with a low price.
VLE's DimonX Free Form Digital Technology is produced in super labs where production runs 24/7 with what the company says is three-to-four-day turnaround on non-AR products and five-to-six-day turnaround on AR products. Free-form products are backside designed single-vision and PALs with varying corridor lengths and personalized options. EB
Boutique lenses advance digital. Image from Seiko Optical Products of America
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