Carl Zeiss Vision
PhotoFusion
Speed is one of the key features of Carl Zeiss’ PhotoFusion lenses. Depending on climate and light conditions and lens material, they are said to darken up to 20% faster than previous Zeiss photochromic lenses and importantly, fade back twice as fast. Darkening can take between 15 and 30 seconds, while fade back to 70% transmission can take a little as five minutes. In their clear state, transmission is rated at 92% and 11% for dark state.
PhotoFusion is available in two colours, brown and grey, in 1.5, 1.6 and 1.67 indices and on the manufacturer’s progressive, single vision, digital and DriveSafe lenses, meaning practitioners can offer their patients maximum flexibility in lens choice.
Peter Robertson, Carl Zeiss Vision marketing and communications director, said: ‘Due to their fast reaction to light and 100% UV protection, Zeiss lenses with PhotoFusion provide practitioners with a single lens solution which is suitable for all spectacle wearers – both indoors and out.’
Hoya
Sensity
Photochromic lens performance has traditionally struggled when there has been low levels of UV radiation and extreme temperatures.
Compare a skiing environment, with high levels of mountain UV and low air temperatures, to a dry, dusty desert with high temperatures and low levels of UV. In the past, photochromic lenses had a hard time dealing with such conditions. On the ski slopes lenses were too dark – and too slow to fade back. In hot conditions, colour density did not reach the desired levels and activation was often slow. For many practitioners, such erratic performance is a major reason for not recommending photochromic lenses.
Hoya’s proprietary technology Stabilight is at the heart of the Sensity lens. Tested across different climates, regions, altitudes and temperatures, Stabilight is said to provide consistent photochromic performance. Lenses darken to a category 3 sun lens tint faster than ever before, and fade back to clear as soon as the ambient light intensity diminishes. During these transitions, total UV protection remains.
The company says a new spin coating process utilising proprietary dye composites and tailoring for advanced freeform lens production, means the highest optical quality, better utilisation of the full lens area and the most consistent performance.
Sensity can be combined with all premium Hoya coatings and is compatible with single vision, bifocal and progressive lenses, including the Hoyalux iD product family.
The lens is available in single vision stock CR39 1.50 and Eyas 1.60, with various treatment options.
Rodenstock
ColorMatic IQ2
The latest iteration of Rodenstock’s ColorMatic range features photochromic dye with molecular structure with larger individual molecules that react more sensitively to UV light, which the company says allows the patient to experience perfect tinting in the shade. The lenses are also said to facilitate darker tinting than before at higher temperatures and better balance of tinting and fade time while indoors. Longevity of the dye was said to have been increased too.
New colours include fashion grey, fashion brown and fashion green. The rich brown tint has a contrast enhancing effect, grey provides a natural colour reproduction, while green has the effect of relaxing the eyes. The lenses also keep their true colour during the entire darkening process. Three contrast enhancing tints of orange, green and grey can also be specified, as can a silver mirror coating.
Waterside Labs
Sunactive
Photochromic lenses have tended to suffer with a reputation for being slightly uncool and targeted a mature audience. Although developments such as green tints and tie-ins with fashion brands have gone some way to eradicate this, true fashionable photochromic lenses are rare.
Luckily, Waterside Labs is on hand with its colourful range from Sunactive. Available in six colours, pink, purple, blue, green, grey and brown, the range is perfect for patients looking for a pop of colour from their sunglass. Instead of fading to completely clear, the coloured lenses retain their fashionable tint.
The Sunactive range is available across the company’s range of progressive lenses and surfaced single vision products. Indices of 1.6 and 1.67 in have recently been added for grey and brown tints.
Vision Ease
Photochromic
Released late last year, Vision Ease’s Photochromic line up of products has been developed to offer patients darkening and fadeback performance. Research conducted by the brand showed that this was the number one consideration of patients when selecting a photochromic lens and eight out 10 patients said they compared brands before buying.
Internal light transmission tests were said to have shown that the new photochromic lenses were 2.5% clearer indoors than the recognised national brand and 7.3% darker outdoors. The lenses also present a faster activation (27%) than the national brand as well as a quicker fadeback (44%).
The new lenses block 91% of blue light outdoors and 43% of blue light indoors. Additionally, the lenses contain an improved true grey colour. Polycarbonate grey styles include: semi-finished single vision (SFSV), aspheric SFSV, D28 Bifocal, D35 Bifocal, 7x28 Trifocal and a decentered Novel progressive.
Transitions
Signature VII Life 360
Real world testing that reflects wearer experience is where Transitions says the best measurements of photochromic lens performance are obtained. By testing the lenses in more than 200 different real life conditions representing more than 1,000 scenarios combining temperatures, angles of light, UV and weather conditions and geographies, Transitions Signature VII lenses have been developed to be more responsive.
Transitions lenses
Research conducted by the company found 89% of current clear lens wearers and 93% of photochromic lens wearers described their experience as excellent, very good or good with Signature VII lenses. In addition, 82% of clear lens wearers rated Signature VII lenses as being better than their current clear lenses.
Transitions Signature lenses are available in 1.5, 1.59, Trivex, 1.6, 1.67 and 1.74 however ranges and materials are unique to each supplier.
Brown Transitions lenses
Brown, grey and graphite green colours are available from: Essilor Ltd, Kodak Lens, BBGR, Sinclair Optical, Horizon Optical, Leicester Optical, United Optical and Nikon. Brown and grey are available from most lens suppliers in the UK including: Shamir, Seiko, Younger, Tokai, Jai Kudo, Optik Mizen and a range of independent labs.
Shyre
The Umbra System
Although not a lens product, the newly developed Umbra System from UK-firm Shyre offers ophthalmic labs a new photochromic product option in the form of a dip coating process.
Research and design began on the dip coating machine in 2013, undertaken by directors Lee Gough and Dan Hancu, who were looking at solutions for what Gough said was the limitations of the in-mass process of adding photochromic dyes.
The Umbra System will also allow labs and larger optician chains to use their own coating solutions to any type of clear stock lens. Shyre’s photochromic coating is applied once the prescription has been created after surfacing and prior to edging. Custom colours can be specified, along varied tint levels and gradients.