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.'
Getting the message across
But getting that message across isn't that easy. Messages that prove that a modern variable tint lens transmits more light than a standard uncoated CR39, like most people wear, is not the route to take, says Conte.
'I don't think patients are that interested in percentage transmission of light. The optician needs to talk about the benefits of the lens. Transitions V as a product fades back 2.8 times faster, but it is what it does for the patient that is important, not the numbers.
'There is a job of education to be done but it is how we get that across. We don't want to end up with a checklist saying: "They are not clear - yes they are. They don't go dark enough - yes they do. They don't fade back fast enough - yes they do. And they not available in higher index - yes they are." It is simply a vastly improved product on what has gone before.
'It is frustrating because it is based on old information and they [opticians] don't seem to want accept the new information. They have closed the door and consigned photochromics to a category where it's just for old Mrs Smith.'
But they are missing out and their patients are missing out, he adds.
'Selling Transitions has a clinical advantage but it also has a business advantage, because like any premium product the optician is going to make more on it. The patients like the products and will come back for another lens, so they are retained. In terms of pounds in his pocket he is going to make more.'
Value of the variable
Anyone who feels they are losing out on a sale by using variable tints is mistaken. 'There's no reason why an optician couldn't sell a Transitions lens and a sunglass,' he says. 'The majority of people just want the versatility of one pair.
I have sat down and done sums with opticians and worked out the percentage of patients that came in and bought a second pair. When you break it down they are not actually making that much money on this second pair thing, but on a Transitions they will and the patient is getting a better lens.'
Conte says Transitions Optical has had success through TV advertising which has created a push from the consumer side.
'Television advertising has grown sales tremendously. Most opticians get the message and see the business opportunity and that their patients are getting a better lens.
'If you look at the TV period in some practices,' he says, 30 per cent of lenses across all designs will be Transitions because during that time there is a paradigm shift where they realise it is something you can offer to everybody.
'It's not rocket science,' he says. 'Opticians simply need to tell customers about variable tints, like they would about a thinner lens or an anti-reflection coating.
'In some practices a quarter of all lenses are variable tints, in others only 1 per cent, but they have the same demographics. It is purely down to the individual.'
'Some opticians within the group that doesn't sell many will say they know which of their patients would want variable tints, or, they can't afford it. I say how could you possibly know. How many of those people go on to buy varifocals? It is not purely a financial decision or they would buy ready-readers.
'Some opticians make assumptions and will not communicate with their patients as much as perhaps they should. I say, just tell your patients, give them the pros and the cons, give them a balanced view and a choice. If they don't want a Transitions lens they won't buy them.
'I don't think you could find a single person who wouldn't benefit from a Transitions lens, so long as it is dispensed as an everyday lens, not as a second pair or as a substitute for sunglasses just for going to work and sitting at the computer just like their clear lenses.'
Conte lives for the day when the optician picks up the work returning from the glazing lab looks at it and says: 'They have forgotten to put the Transitions in it because it looks too clear.'
Until that day arrives he'll just have to carry on wearing the flares.