With some of the biggest names in the lens sector missing from the NEC at this year’s Optrafair, there were plenty of new developments for practitioners to discover and opportunity to spend time with some of the smaller but innovative lens companies.
Fresh from triumphing at the Optician Awards in the Lens Product of the Year category, Aberdeen-based lab Caledonian Optical was keen to draw attendees’ attention to the winning ARC Steady lens.
‘The ARC Steady was our main focus at the show anyway but doubly so after the awards win,’ said Mark Robertson, head of manufacturing at Caledonian Optical. ‘The product was launched last July and we were taken aback at its success in the market. We’ve been doing freeform designs for 10 years now and we’ve always had good success but the feedback for ARC Steady has been unprecedented with people praising its comfort and ease of use in particular.’
Robertson explained that it was the strength of this feedback that gave the company the confidence to enter the Optician Awards. ‘We are an independent lab and we are used to seeing big branded names win year after year so I think it’s a real testament to the product’s quality that we won,’ he said.
According to Robertson, ARC Steady lenses use dual surface Camber technology to achieve greater prescription accuracy. Utilising both sides of the lens with specific personalised measurements, allows a wider field of vision, with improved adaptability. The technical challenges of manufacturing the product are considerable.
‘It is our most complex lens to make,’ said Robertson. ‘In the blocking process if the lens is more than half a degree off, it can absolutely throw the design completely because we use a Camber blank from Younger Optics. Our other freeform digital lenses use a spherical front service lens so as long as it is centrally blocked it is fine. With the camber it has to be spot on as the design won’t match. It requires precision to make but we can do it thanks to our skilled staff and state of the art machinery.’
Camber Technology lens blank
Waterside Laboratories enjoyed a steady stream of visitors to its stand throughout Optrafair.
‘The biggest thing we are promoting is our new VFX honeycomb filter technology,’ said joint managing director Bob Forgan. ‘This is a honeycomb mesh that is built into the lens, other companies have been introducing this technology into the UK but we are actually producing it here. We keep getting market feedback from people saying once you’ve tried these lenses you wouldn’t go back because there’s really a noticeable difference. It is not something that is easy to show a customer; you have to wear it to notice it. It makes everything a bit crisper and colours are slightly more vibrant. It helps with eye fatigue and is great for night driving.’
Waterside has the product available in three of its best-selling progressives along with single vision and computer lenses too.
‘At Mido we were introduced to Inizen Optical Technologies’ new progressive design for night myopia,’ says Forgan. ‘We thought a lens for night myopia combined with honeycomb technology would make the ideal driving lens. It has a night myopia optimised zone above the fitting cross.’
‘None of the other driving lenses have this,’ added Chris Smith, joint managing director at Waterside. ‘You have the benefits of the honeycomb and just above the fitting cross is a -0.25 reduction that accommodates the greater level of myopia experienced at night. As you dilate in the lower light conditions, you move into that area.’
Beyond this new product, Waterside has recently significantly enhanced its offering to independent practices by adding a coating lab to its facility.
Waterside’s honeycomb filter technology
‘The introduction of our coating lab earlier this year is opening up new opportunities for us such as sports sunglasses,’ said Forgan. ‘Coatings that we were forced to outsource are now produced in house. Like with Honeycomb, this gives us a sizeable advantage with a quicker turnaround time and we are able to guarantee our level of service. A lot of preparatory work went into it in terms of achieving a clean space separate from the rest of the business and installing air control.’
Smith, who has established himself as the lab’s premier coatings expert, added: ‘Coatings are becoming more popular and with our own freeform products it is was a necessity to take this step.’
Optrafair found Jamie Holoran, founder and CEO of Optik Mizen, was in expansive mood as he talked about his company’s products.
‘We are continuing to promote our Life Synchronicity brand of lenses, which is our top varifocal,’ he said. ‘This product incorporates two very specific technologies that make it special. First of all it has got Opus Curve dual surfacing technology that makes sure the curvature is in perfect synchronisation with the prescription throughout the progression. This expands vision where it will benefit the wearer most. It also uses Lateral Dissemination technology. When you have any progressive lens, the addition in the lens creates a stigmatism at the side which blurs vision on that portion.
'The key thing with any progressive is to minimise that blur and push it as far to the side as possible to achieve as wide vision as possible. We actually use this technology in portions of the lens previously unused or areas that your eye does not pick up. It has been a long process of development but we’ve got a process that allows us to take up to 25% of that blurred zone and accommodate in areas, particularly the top of the lens, where the patient doesn’t perceive it. The combination of these two technologies is why this lens is special.’
Holoran explained that Optik Mizen operates by searching for the best independent lens technologies across the world and then taking and combining them to produce its own lenses.
‘We are a small company so we are able to move quickly and bring things to market fast,’ he said. ‘We are actually launching a product at the show called Pin-Sharp Enhancement that reduces eye strain by concentrating the light signal reaching the retina via hexagons in the lens. This reduces obtuse reflections in the periphery and makes vision more comfortable.’
Based on similar technology to the aforementioned Waterside product, Holoran said that Pin Sharp can now be used with photochromic lenses.
‘Previously there was a problem in that when the lenses turned dark the hexagonal mesh became visible. This has now been overcome.’
Newly launched Photochromic lens Reactolite was top of the agenda at the Norville stand.
‘The name Reactolite is a heritage hat tip to Reactolite Glass [a product formerly available from Pilkington Optical],’ said Sean Donnachie, operations director of Norville. It is a photochromic coating that is available in grey or brown colours and can be applied in different densities to achieve 15% or 40% LTF. People can pick what works best for them. The fact the coating is applied front and back adds to the efficiency; they darken extremely quickly and fade back quickly too.’
‘We can supply a hard coat version or an AR coating version that attunes to make them react even quicker. Because it is a coating we can apply it onto virtually anything, indices 1.5 to 1.67 with any prescription or addition. It has been tested extensively and we are very confident in it to date. We have had a very good reaction to it so far. People are very keen on it because it opens the doors in terms of patient options and negates the need to compromise. We officially launched here at the show but word got out early and we’ve had orders coming in for some time now.’
Essilor went to Optrafair in full force with a Transitions stand adjacent to that of the main company.
Transitions used the show to unveil a new logo and new colours, which are both aimed at interesting younger consumers in its products.
‘We are working on a whole new brand positioning,’ said Carly Rocyn-Jones, category consultant at Transitions. ‘The previous logo had been around for 20 plus years and needed revamping. The new logo has just been released and you can see how the “o” shows a light/dark duality and also light being filtered. We feel this makes it much more relevant for the modern day wearer and for younger consumers.’
The updated logo is accompanied by new taglines designed to increase the relevance and desirability of Transitions lenses.
‘We now describe our products as light intelligent lenses, which alludes to what they do without being too techy so we are hoping that with high street advertising the message will start to cut through to consumers,’ said Rocyn-Jones. ‘We are encouraging ECPs to change the terminology when talking to patients. So we favour terms like “hassle free” rather than “convenient”. If you are talking to someone in their 30s the new parlance is a lot more patient friendly and modern.’
The new colours are sapphire, emerald, amethyst and amber. These were introduced first at the start of 2018 but have now been made available for varifocal lenses.
Essilor used Optrafair to launch its new Crizal Sapphire UV, which is the company’s new premium anti-reflection coating.
‘The big difference with this product is that we are increasing the angle of incidence which we reduce reflection across,’ explained Andy Hepworth, professional relations manager. ‘So instead of a narrow band, we extend that range from 45 degrees to -45 degrees. This reduces reflections across a much larger area, transmits more light, looks much nicer cosmetically and it also improves visual performance. Rather than being a green hue like previous products Crizal Sapphire UV has a blue hue. The eye is less sensitive to blue than it is to green, so the blue is less noticeable.’