Superlative Specs

Are you bundled up? According to the EB 2017 Lens Virtual Focus Group, a full 32% of ECPs offer a premium bundled lens package (including AR) to patients. For many ECPs, packaging lens designs and features provides a clear and simple premium solution for patients.

This trend in lens sales has just gotten easier to deliver.

Enter the Ultimate Lens Package (ULP) by Essilor, debuting at Vision Expo West. A bundle of the company’s most advanced tech together in a single lens:

Of ECPs that tested dispensing ULP, 75% said they would change the way they dispense to include this new lens package, according to Essilor.

Is bundling right for your business, too?

—Erinn Morgan

On Our Radar
THE BIGGEST TRENDS IN SIGHT…

DID YOU GET ECLIPSED ON AUG. 21?

John Jerit did. As president of American Paper Optics, one of the NASA-approved makers of solar eclipse glasses, Jerit has been one busy guy the last few months. The company made more than 45 million eclipse glasses—including a million for NASA, 100,000 for Warby Parker, and 30,000 for the Nashville Sounds (which paused their minor league baseball game to view the eclipse with fans).

Now, Jerit gets to relax until 2024, when the next total solar eclipse will come to the U.S. Here, he checks in with EB on the morning after.

Where did you view the eclipse?

Nashville, which is a three-hour drive from Memphis where we live—it was the largest city where totality occurred.

How was it?

Totality is absolutely awesome: twilight descends, you see the corona, and the crickets start chirping. On a scale of 1 to 10, not totality is a 4 and totality is about 1,000—it's an awe-inspiring experience where people are laughing and crying.

Was there a last-minute rush?

We fulfilled 13,000 orders a day online in the weeks leading up to the eclipse.

Coolest eclipse glasses sale?

We worked with the MORE Foundation, which distributed free eclipse glasses through the nation’s public library system. We drop-shipped those out to libraries across the country.

—Erinn Morgan

Nicole Miller on Fall17 Eyewear Fashion…

“I love all the colored lenses today and especially the unexpected color of the blue mirrored lens on these new Nicole Miller glasses…I’m comfortable wearing them both inside and outside!”

—Miller dishes with EB on eyewear style for the season

ECPs + THE ECLIPSE

An abundance of ECPs across the country joined in the solar eclipse excitement by doing everything from giving away free eclipse glasses to acting as an eye health resource for their community. Here, some prime examples:

BEFORE: Optical locations like Sports Optical in Denver ran out of freebie eclipse glasses. And, some O.D.s, like Chris Hobson at Hobson Eye Associates in Kennesaw, GA, focused on spreading the word to their community on safety.

DURING: Some ECPs got creative during the eclipse. At VisionArts in St. Louis, which was in the path of eclipse totality, James Vann, O.D., did a Facebook Live stream (for Transitions Optical) throughout the totality where he measured UV levels.

And at Eye Physicians & Surgeons in Jacksonville, AR, Dr. Phillips and staff set up an eclipse viewer (see photos).

AFTER: ECPs were also a key post-eclipse community resource. “We have had dozens of…concerns ranging from headaches to subjective blurry vision,” says Avnish Deobhakta, M.D., of New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mounta Sinai in New York City.

At Eyeworks Vision Center in Lumberton, NC, Richard G. Johnson, O.D., spread a message to the community via a PR service: “See your eye doctor immediately if you suspect an eclipse-viewing accident." —E.M.

Show+Tell

Two of optical’s biggest shows have 75 reasons to celebrate

HONG KONG OPTICAL FAIR: 25 IN NOVEMBER

The Hong Kong Optical Fair is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, welcoming optical buyers from around the globe to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center Nov. 8-10.

The fair builds off Hong Kong’s position as a major manufacturer of optical products and the city’s reputation as an international trading hub. This year the fair is expected to feature more than 780 companies from around the world, and feature a specialty Brand Name Gallery, showcasing more than 200 high-end and creative brands, and a new “International Designer Elite Zone.”

The 15th annual Hong Kong Optometric Conference, which runs during the Optical Fair, will bring together worldwide experts to discuss “Neuro Vision Rehabilitation.”

For registration and other info (including travel and hotel discount options), visit: m.hktdc.com/fair/hkopticalfair-en/ .

SILMO Paris: 50 in October

This is a big year at the SILMO Paris optical fair, as the event celebrates its big 5-0. Slated this year for Oct. 6-9 at the Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center, SILMO has long enjoyed a reputation as an influential and pioneering trade show. This year promises cutting-edge style and technology intel for attendees, through a variety of means:

Creative workshops that allow attendees to participate in frame design held daily (preregistration is a must)

A pop-up gallery highlighting some of the newest eyewear designs. The gallery will have a special focus on the industry’s “iconic products”

A low vision forum featuring low vision professionals discussing technologies and advances in the field, as well as displaying new technical aids

SILMO Store: The Experience, a booth providing the full experience of new digital solutions at retail (including P.O.S., dispensing aids, and marketing)

en.silmoparis.com

—Susan Tarrant

Online Exams Remain an Optical Battleground

AOA encourages, trains members for local advocacy work

the debut in 2015 of Opternative, a company offering consumer-facing online eye tests for $40, disrupted the traditional model and advanced the popularity of online eyewear businesses.

Despite efforts from ECPs to educate consumers about the importance of comprehensive eye care and to protect the standard of care, the online eye test model has flourished. In less than a year we’ve seen these popular products enter the market:

• 1-800-Contacts (offers Opternative’s test on its website)
• Warby Parker’s online Prescription Check
• Simple Contacts’ online renewal test
• EyeQue Personal Vision Tracker, which debuted its app at CES to much fanfare

LOCAL VICTORIES, LOCAL CHALLENGES

The battle cry in the optical industry, of course, is that these technologies (the accuracy of which remains debated) pose a risk to consumers’ health when they are used in place of comprehensive exams.

Though it is still involved in a federal complaint with the FDA about Opternative’s testing claims, the American Optometric Association (AOA) is encouraging ECPs to get involved with advocacy at their state level. It’s worked in places like Indiana, where a bill was introduced earlier this year that sought to eliminate the state’s ban on the online prescribing of ophthalmic devices, and then died in committee due in part to the advocacy of the state optometric association. And in South Carolina, local advocates are helping battle an Opternative-backed lawsuit seeking to overturn legislation that bans online prescription practices.

In a statement to EB, Opternative said: “Our mission has stayed the same since day one; to help the world to see and feel better by increasing access to ocular health and partnering with doctors to drive high-risk patients to professionals. We would be doing a disservice to ourselves, and individuals who currently live in states that prohibit ocular telehealth, if we did not advocate for those patients to participate in safe and affordable online telehealth platforms like Opternative."

A CALL TO ACTION

According to Christopher Quinn, O.D., AOA president: “AOA and its state affiliates continue to advocate for patient safety and do not take patient safety concerns lightly. Doctors of optometry are called upon to educate patients, regulators, state and federal legislators, and policy makers on the difference between technologies that advance patient care and those which ultimately act as a barrier to patient care, even putting their eye and vision health at risk.”

It’s an ongoing effort that welcomes additional voices. Here’s what’s been happening (and how to get involved):

INFO: aoa.org/advocacy , addresschange@aoa.org

—Susan Tarrant