While Silmo Paris has a reputation for its frame and fashion offering, lens technology is still prominent in Hall 6, with Essilor International particularly active this year.
After five years of research and development, it was only natural that the news from the company was led by Ava (Advanced Vision Accuracy). Essilor points out that Ava itself is not a lens product, but a patient experience. In essence, it brings together developments in refraction technology and digital freeform surfacing into one overarching concept.
The name, Essilor says, is both descriptive and in line with current technology assistant trends like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. The company says it wants the Ava brand to be seen and heard during the patient’s lens buying journey in practice.
The starting point in that journey is the company’s new phoropter, the Vision R-800, which can carry out subjective refraction at 0.01D increments instead of the traditional 0.25D steps. The Vision R-800 is able to perform with such accuracy thanks to two new technologies – an integrated optical module to target power continuously and instantaneously with a resolution of 0.01D and smart refraction software inspired by optometric, psychophysical and ‘real life’ assessments to measure the sphere and cylinder in 0.01D steps according to the patient’s sensitivity.
But do patients need this level of accuracy? Essilor believes so and at the event presented research carried out on 146 patients aged between 18 and 65 which found 95% had vision that was more sensitive than 0.25D steps and 44% were more sensitive than 0.125D steps.
The next step in the Ava patient experience is integration. As a premium buying experience, Ava prescriptions will be integrated into Essilor’s range of premium lenses, including Varilux X, Varilux Physio 3.0, Varilux E series and Eyezen. It can also form part of the Visioffice measurement system for personalised lenses using Eyecode 3 parameters.
Essilor International said early practitioner trials in Germany had yielded impressive feedback and consumers had reacted well to real life visual simulations that showed the difference between old and new prescriptions. Essilor UK’s managing director Tim Precious has already confirmed to Optician that Ava will be exclusive to independent opticians in the UK on its launch later this year.
Essilor’s new phoropter, the Vision R-800
The matrix
On the nearby Transitions stand, the company’s latest lens, Signature Gen 8 was making its European debut having had a launch in the US earlier this summer.
The eighth iteration of the Signature photochromic was described by Transitions as a ‘no-compromise’ lens. Motivated by research from 76,000 wears and patient demands of full UV protection, fast darken and fade times and long-lasting performance, the company said it was forced back to the drawing board to work out a new approach to the lens.
The ideal environment for photochromic molecules to rearrange themselves upon exposure to UV light is one that is soft and offers lots of space to move, but these conditions are not practical for an ophthalmic lens. For the first time since 2005, Essilor has introduced changes to the material’s molecular properties in an effort to improve overall performance.
The company said the nano-composite matrix combined the freedom of soft material with the durability of hard material. The new structure mimics semi-crystalline environments in smaller, defined pockets, allowing molecules to move more freely, but in a regimented manner.
Optician had the opportunity to compare darken and fade back times and while there was little discernible difference in the time it took to darken, the fade back speed was noticeably faster. Transitions says Gen 8 is up to 35% faster than Signature 7, but the demonstration on the stand made this figure seem rather conservative. As well as all important fade-back time, photochromic performance longevity was also said to have been improved, with a claimed lifecycle time of nearly four years.
Signature Gen 8 will be available across all seven Transitions colours.