Life on Mars

Lens technology has moved on in leaps and bounds, so why haven't attitudes towards variable tint lenses? Luca Conte, business manager of Transitions Optical, gives his personal view

There's a popular cops and robbers series on the television at the moment in which an unfortunate copper bumps his head and finds himself transported back to 1973. Anyone watching Life on Mars  closely will have spotted some superb 1970s motors and some excellently large frames and, possibly, some Reactolite Rapide lenses.

But, just as the 'Guv'nors' 1973 Mark II Cortina has been transformed into an air-conditioned BMW 3 Series those fat, yellow, uneven-tinted photochromics no longer exist.

Luca Conte, business manager of Transitions Optical, may sometimes feel he has been transported back in time as he fights the misconceptions he believes surround modern photochromic lenses.

'Opticians are making assumptions based on old information,' says Conte. 'People will upgrade a computer because they accept that technology moves on but it is the same with photochromic lenses.'

The modern day variable tint lens, as Transitions likes to refer to them, is nothing like the earlier generations, the characteristics of which limited their use and appeal. The nub of it is that people see Transitions as a sunglass replacement. It isn't, it is a clear lens replacement.

'The frustration I have is that opticians still see Transitions as a niche product, it is one of those tick boxes when they say, "do you want A, do you want B, do you want C?", rather than it being a core product. It is an intelligent clear lens that does everything a clear lens can do but it also increases patient comfort, it increases visual quality, etc. By dispensing it as an add-on they are missing the point.'

Conte guesses that there is a lack of knowledge out there.

'People still refer to variable tint lenses as Reactolites, which is disastrous from a marketing point of view. But let's face it,' he adds ironically, 'we all do the Hoovering with a Dyson these days.'

The real damage from these assumptions, he says, is that people still think a variable tint lens has the performance of those older product generations.

'Misconceptions are based on former truths, that is why I wouldn't say that people are ignorant because four or five years ago when they formed their opinion that was true.

'What is harmful is that people still think a Transitions V carries a tint indoors. If I am wearing my Transitions V lenses people think I am wearing a clear lens.'