EaseVision.com – News and gossips of vision care and optical industry

Lenscrafters is in a tough trouble. An internal Lenscrafters memo says that the company has to make strategic choices and hard decisions that will result in a lean, efficient and effective go-forward organization. This is exactly describing the VSIP program launched by Lenscrafters. By some people, this program is considered as “cut the fat”. 

According to officials from Lenscrafters, the VSIP program involves two parts, recognizing and rewarding those contributive associates on one hand and streamlining work and reducing costs on the other hand. Similar to an early retirement program, VSIP has actually been successfully implemented by some other companies. This time, Lenscrafters set the eligibility criterion of VSIP at 50 years of age with 5 years of service. This is the strict eligibility criterion and the company will not expand it, so that associates that do not meet these requirements can not volunteer for the program. 

The company will announce approved participants in the VSIP on December 7. After direct communication with those participants, the company will cascade the information through the CSC Leadership Team to departments and teams. In fact, not all associates eligible for the 50/5 requirements will receive the VISP offer. Some roles in Manufacturing and Engineering, EyeMed Sales, Service and Production will be excluded. 

But associates ineligible for VSIP program can volunteer to be part of the Involuntary RIF and receive severance benefits. These people can be included in the involuntary reduction in force and should make a final decision after the VSIP program has finalized on December 7. Once being terminated, this group of associates can receive severance benefits. Before that, associates considering the Involuntary RIF can see Luxottica’s Standard Severance Benefits Plan, with which they can carefully balance potential gain against loss. 

The VSIP and involuntary RIF programs aim to cut off approximately 10% to 30% of the current workforce of CSC. After these two phases, the company will be able to maintain flat General and Administrative expense.

According to news at optics.org, a research team in the University of Murcia’s optical laboratory has invented a liquid-crystal device that can correct vision in both eyes simultaneously. This device can help optometrists prescribe corrective eyeglasses and contact lenses. In addition, this instrument can also be used to simulate the effect of laser refractive surgery or any other advanced vision correction. 

The useful device developed by the Murcia team actually consists of a single wavefront sensor and a liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulator. Through the way of modulating incident light, the liquid crystal can correct the wavefront of light entering the eyes. In detail, the liquid crystal contains proportionally rotated molecules. And researchers use approximately 58,000 independent pixels to control the wavefront of light entering each pupil. 

Capable of measuring and manipulating the optical aberrations from both eyes at the same time, the device helps optometrists control what is natural in normal vision. This breakthrough significantly changes the situation in the past when doctors had to use a bulky glass frame and mechanically switched and adjusted lenses. The invention of liquid-crystal device can profoundly replace the mechanical wheels and the traditional letter chart. In addition, this system is believed by Artal to help doctors conduct experiments that involve the working process of visual system and vision simulation before a lens implant surgery. 

In fact, this newly invented device is a natural extension of a former technology, which was also developed by the same team in Spain. As early as 2000, the team led by Pablo Artal created the first closed-loop instrument that was applied in the eye. After that, Pablo and his colleagues including Joshua Fernandez and Pedro Prieto have been trying to develop a binocular device that is capable of evaluating vision in both eyes simultaneously. After nearly 9 years’ efforts, the liquid-crystal device now announces their success. Currently, the team focuses on two directions of further research on both optical properties of the eye and the development of a more compact prototype.

It is said that Essilor has been seeking cooperation with sunglass specialist FGXI for several weeks. Two weeks ago, Essilor submitted a conditional $18-a-share offer but FGXI was said to want $23 a share from Essilor. A fact is that the two giants are under close contact. Covering a wide range of business in the optical industry, FGXI has been the cooperative target of Essilor. This signifies an obvious move in the Essilor that the company wants to set up a “direct the consumer” avenue. 

Focusing on the markets in North America and the United Kingdom, FGX International, Inc. designs and markets non-prescription reading glasses, sunglasses and costume jewelry. Headquartered in Smithfield, Rhode Island, FGXI has many trademarks, including FosterGrant, Magnivision, Anarchy, Angel, Gargoyles, Hyperflexx and Redi-Readers. In addition, the company also keeps brand names including Ironman Triathlon, Levi Strauss Signature, BodyGlove, C9 by champion and Daytona International Speedway to manufacture, market, distribute and sell its products. FGXI maintains distribution channels with mass merchandisers, chain drugstores, chain grocery stores, specialty retailers, variety stores, ophthalmic retailers as well as mid-tier department stores. 

The potential cooperation between Essilor and FGXI obviously shows Essilor’s attempt to go directly to consumers. This is absolutely not the traditional business model of Essilor. Currently, Essilor maintains a large network of eye care practitioners who are responsible for distributing Essilor products. During the past several years, sales at Essilor were on the increase that the sales number reached $209 million in 2006, $240.5 million in 2007 and approximately $255 million in 2008. A further step in Essilor is that the company is still expanding internationally by setting up offices in New York, Toronto, Stoke-on-Trent, England, Mexico City and Shenzhen, China. 

Essilor is now moving into the retail segment through its potential partner FGXI. This significant move in Essilor is estimated to trigger some changes in the optical retail industry. Further actions of Essilor may include demise of the independent ECPs and labs.

Transition lenses have long been on the market for nearly 40 years. But only eyeglass lenses are available. These eyeglass lenses would automatically darken in response to bright sunlight and restore their normal brightness once sunlight is removed. The basic principle of these transition sunglasses is to use millions of molecules of photochromic dyes. These dyes can absorb UV light, which leads to a shape change. As a result, the lenses will darken. Once UV light disappears, the molecules will restore their normal shape and maintain transparent. 

This flexibility has never been successfully adapted to contact lenses. But now, researchers in Singapore are addressing this challenge. They have partially succeeded in developing UV-responsive contact lenses that offer similar functions as photochromic sunglass lenses. Under the Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), researches led by Jackie Ying have successfully developed their photochromic contact lenses and plan to test them in animals. 

The most important factor that assesses the success of their UV-responsive contact lenses is to see whether the dyes are contained within the lenses stably. In fact, the most difficult task is to fill the dyes that are responsible for brightness change in the lenses. Jackie Ying and his colleagues use a novel polymer laced with an intricate network of nano-sized tunnels to “store” the dyes. This most challenging task of applying dye coatings to the lens surface has been solved. In other words, photochromic contact lenses developed by these researchers embed dyes uniformly throughout the lens material. In this way, more dye molecules can be packed into the lens material. 

Speed of transition is the most critical factor for both photochromic eyeglass lenses and UV-responsive contact lenses. For instance, a car suddenly going into a tunnel requires immediate brightness change in the driver’s lenses. Thanks to the special design from IBN, their photochromic contact lenses have greater sensitivity to light and offer a faster response. According to Ying, their UV-responsive contact lenses take only 10 to 20 seconds to darken or brighten.

The condition in Safilo is still deteriorating. According to reports by Reuters, the Italian eyewear maker Safilo is making further loss. In October and the beginning of November, Safilo has seen an extremely cautious order intake. Its high-end products were suffering the most. What’s more serious, Safilo suffered a net loss of 50.1 million euros in the third quarter, compared to 6.7 million euros during the same quarter of 2008. In particular, ordinary activities made 22.1 million euros of loss. 

At the end of September, the net debt of Safilo reached 586.3 million euros. Due to the disappointing performance, Safilo warned on this Wednesday that it could default on its debts by the year-end. This is quite a bad news for share holders and creditors of Safilo. In October, Safilo was excited to receive cash tender from several companies. Hal Holding is the first launcher, followed by sunglass makers including Gucci and Dior. However, Chief Executive Robert Vedovotto warned that the recapitalization plan might fail. He insisted that the conditions for cash tender offer would not change. Only tender offer would be acceptable. 

The fact is that until now, Hal Holding does not own any of the Safilo Notes itself. According to the earlier plan, Netherlands-based Hal will buy high-yield notes of 195 million euros at the price that is only 60% of their nominal value. In addition, Hal has also planned to restructure Safilo’s senior debt facilities. If this plan is going to be finished, the share of Hal will reach 49.99 percent, significantly higher than the current share of only 2%.

 Due to the widening net loss in the third quarter, only 1.03% has been tendered. And tender offer committed by Gucci and Dior is conditional, based on the successful completion of a cash tender offer made by Hal Holding. Under the current situation, the recapitalization plan might not take place in all likelihood.

Children need adequate protection against UV rays in the sunshine by wearing sunglasses. In general, sunglasses for children as well as adults should offer 100% UVA and UVB protection. Without proper protection, the eyes can be easily damaged by excessive UV rays. In fact, children need UV protection even more than adults. This is quite understandable because children’s eyes are still under development. 

Some institutes have revealed results of studies focusing on the damage on children’s eyes caused by harmful UV exposure. According to the American Optometric Association, approximately 80% of UV exposure shows up by the age of 18. This accumulation of UV exposure in children can seriously damage the retina. Unfortunately, retinal damage will not appear until an old age. Children and parents are much likely to neglect this damage caused by sunlight. 

An affiliate of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Foundation called the Beverly Hills Vision Center also offers warning signs of UV light. Ophthalmologists from this center point out that a child under 10 years old is significantly more susceptible to retinal damage than an adult. Furthermore, UV exposure is believed to be a leading cause of blindness and other ocular diseases in old people. Conditions such as cataracts and macular degeneration are closely associated with UV overexposure. In serious cases, macular degeneration may lead permanent vision loss. 

With enough awareness of the harmful UV rays, parents should consider sunglasses as a necessity for their children. On the market, there are numerous kids’ sunglasses that come in a wide range of colors, frame shapes, celebrity styles and so forth. With little effort, parents along with their children can choose a right pair. Sunglasses not only offer UV protection, but also serve as an attractive accessory. For those kids who reject sunglasses due to an appearance concern, parents have the responsibility to set up an example by trying on a pair that is attractive.

As more and more people are suffering from the new H1N1 flu (swine flue) in the season, here is a very good way of preventing, alleviating and curing the cold or flu symptoms, the way is called “Foot Soaking”. I personally have been using this method for more than 20 years, and it is very useful, effective, and side-effect free. Please follow the following steps. This method is with some theory of traditional Chinese medicine.
 
1. Fill the bath tub with water to the highest level. Set the water temperature to the highest possible bearable temperature, normally from 55  to 65 degrees centigrade. If you do not have bath tub at home, try to buy a big bucket with high height.
 
2. Roll up your soft trousers to the knee, wear all the indoor clothes as usual.
 
3. Open the bathroom door, keep good ventilation, but no wind.
 
4. Put the both feet into the bath tub, adjust the water temperature if it is too hot.
 
5. Keep the water temperature or raise the temperature a little bit by adding new hot water from the faucet, and the better choice is to increase the water temperature by several degrees. Remember the longer your feet are under the hot water, the higher temperature your feet can bear and accept.
 
6. Keep the feet in the water for 20-30 minutes, your forehead and body back will start to perspire. Keep perspiring for 5 minutes. Then you can see your feet and lower part of the leg very red.
 
7. Do not take shower after “Foot Soaking”. Dry your body with dry towel. If the shirt is wet, please change one. Let your body dry by itself.
 
8. Drink water to keep your body hydrated for the perspiration.
 
Above way is especially good if you have runny nose and fever. After soaking your feet, you will feel fully refreshed and feel very light. Please keep warm after soaking your feet, better before supper, as after soaking, you will have a good appetite to fuel your body and fight against the cold and flu.

Repeat the same procedure in the coming days till you feel better and recovered fully. Normally 2 to 4 times will be enough. Please remember to employ this method in the earlier stage of your cold or flu, you will achieve the better result.

Firmoo.com, the emerging online optical store, has recently consulted the famous doctor of Chinese traditional medicine, and has written an article to help Americans to fight against the H1N1 flu.

Temporary burry vision has been reported on patients taking Viagra and similar drugs for erectile dysfunction (ED). In addition, some people also suggest other visual complications if these drugs are taken for a long term. On the other hand, a new study argues that these medications will never cause permanent eyesight impairment. 

In general, there are two types of medicines that are commonly used to inhibit selective phodiesterase type 5 (PDE5). Chemical sildenafil citrate is sold as Viagra and tadalafil as Cialis. By interfering with the action of PDE5 on the blood vessel in the penis, these medicines can effectively treat ED. Unfortunately, these drugs at the same time are suspected to affect the similar compounds in the retina of the eye. 

This suspicion leads to the randomized placebo-controlled study conducted by William H. Cordell of the Lilly Research Lab and his colleagues. Recruiting totally 224 healthy male participants, the study was carried out in order to assess the change in retina among men taking Viagra or Cialis. 85 of the subjects were randomly assigned to take 5mg of tadalafil every day for six months, and another group of 77 men was asked to take 50mg of sildenafil on a daily basis for a same period. In similar, 82 individuals took a placebo. In order to figure out potential changes in their retinas, researchers performed comprehensive ophthalmic tests on these subjects, before, during and after treatment. 

Nine men discontinued the study due to an adverse event, including two in the placebo group, one in the tadalafil group and six in the sildenafil group. In final, 194 participants finished the study. Researchers conducted eletroretinography, visual function tests and measurements of intraocular pressure on these individuals who completed the study. The result showed that there were no significant differences between treatment and placebo groups. In addition, researchers found no abnormalities suggesting drug toxicity.

The eyes are one of the most precious organs of the body. Eyesight as the most crucial sensation of the human body wholly relies on health eyes. In addition to this significant contribution, the eyes can also be an indicator of healthy problems. Or you can say there are some ocular manifestations of systemic diseases. Researchers have shown that some signs of other diseases of the body are usually first visible in, on or around the eyes. According to Andrew Iwach, MD who is the executive director of the Glaucoma Center of San Francisco, “the eyes truly are unique real estate.” 

Cataracts and glaucoma as eye disorders have early signs for sure. What’s worth mentioning, ocular manifestations are possibly associated with various systemic diseases, including diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, aneurysms, HIV, cancer, and rare hereditary and so forth. Actually, the eyes are the only place that shows a bare nerve, a bare artery and a bare vein without doing any cutting. 

There are some common ocular manifestations of signs that may be indicating certain health problems of the body. The first one is bloody eye, which results from the damage in the conjunctiva. Possible reasons of a subconjunctival hemorrhage include high blood pressure and a platelet. 

Bulging eyes can be a family trait, but this condition may also signify thyroid disease. This disease causes abnormal levels of thyroid hormone, which in turn force eye tissues to swell. With a formal name of ptosis, droopy eyelid is mostly a sign of natural aging. However, potential causes in rare cases can be a brain tumor or a neuromuscular disease called myasthenia gravis. 

Pupil abnormalities may indicate an underlying medical problem. In normal cases, the pupils are symmetrical and they show the same reaction upon exposure to light. Pupils with different sizes or unequal degrees of shrinkage are possibly caused by stoke, brain or optic nerve tumor, brain aneurysm, syphilis and multiple sclerosis. 

Other forms of ocular manifestation include rings on the cornea, thickened eyelid and yellow eyes. Some of the ocular “signs” need the help from an eye doctor. They include arterial plaques, optic nerve abnormalities and retinal defects.

Reported on October 25, an online article in The Lancet revealed some important findings about gene therapy. Researchers from the School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, and the Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have successfully improved vision in 12 subjects using gene therapy. Including 5 children and 7 adults, all of the twelve subjects were bothered by Leber’s congenital amaurosis (LCA), which is a group of inherited blinding diseases that damage light receptors in the retina. 

LCA is incurable by any treatments until now. The result was quite significant for the entire filed of gene therapy, according to co-first author of the study. Participants of the study were legally blind and may be forced to be totally sightless. One of the children could not see the blackboard normally. He had to rely on the large print on an electronic screen and get assistance from the teacher. Researchers injected genes that produce light-sensitive pigments into the back of his eyes. The boy restored his ability to do normal tasks in the classroom and play certain games with his classmates. 

With the help from gene injection, half of the 12 subjects improved their vision enough and they are not legally blind now. Aging from 8 to 11, the five children can now navigate a low-light obstacle course, which is spectacular to the researchers. After the treatment, these children can navigate the course more quickly with fewer errors than before. However, adults performed generally more modestly on the mobility course than children. 

Researchers such as Maguire and Bennett have long been researching on inherited retinal degeneration. This time, those researchers focused on Leber’s congenital amaurosis, which can cause total blindness in one’s twenties or thirties. They used a genetically engineered adeno-associated virus to carry a normal version of the gene named PRE65. This gene is mutated in one form of LCA. And Jeannette cloned the gene in Bennett’s lab.