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

On Jan 13, 2011, FTC (Specifically Office of Policy Planning, Bureau of Economics, Bureau of Competition) wrote a 17-page reply-letter to Ms. Sue M. Kornegay of NC State Board of Opticians who wrote earlier to FTC officials proposing to redefine the meaning of “Prescription” for eyeglasses, contact lenses, so that the “measurements taken by opticians are not considered part of the patients’ prescription, and are not required to be released as part of a RX. In Ms. Sue’s letter, she proposed to impose certain requirements solely on electronic optical business, including internet sites, but not “B&M” vendors, and impose certain new requirements on out-of-state vendors, including Internet sites.

FTC’s reply said that the existing federal and state regulations already provide extensive protections for the health and safety of contact lens and eyeglass wearers. Rather, the NC’s provision will likely impose higher costs on vendors of prescription eyewear, which may raise prices to NC consumers of optical goods.

FTC thinks the NC proposal will hamper affordable access to optical goods which is more strictly than patient protection requires. The federal laws of the Eyeglass Rule and Contact Lenses Rule may preempt any state and local laws restricting patients’ ability to obtain their contact lens and eyeglasses prescription, so that they can comparison shop for the deals that best suit their preferences.

FTC further emphasizes that competition is the core of America’s economy, and vigorous competition among sellers in an open marketplace gives consumers the benefits of lower prices, higher quality, more choices and greater innovation. Because of the importance of health care competition to the economy and consumer welfare, anticompetitive conduct in health care markets has long been a key target of FTC law enforcement, research and adovacy.

FTC pointed out that particularly about the Eyeglass Rule. Before 1978, many prescribers( ECPs) either refused to release RX to their customers or charge an additional fee to do so. Prices for glasses varied widely as much as 300%. To address the problem, the Eyeglass Rule requires optometrists and ophthalmologists to provide their patients immediately after completion of eye exam, a free copy of RX.

Now in the minds of some conservative ECPs, PD is the number that is NOT required to be released to patients. Here is the FTC’s definition of “Prescription” by Eyeglass Rule, which defines “PRESCRIPTION” to mean the “Written specifications for lenses for eyeglasses which are derived from an eye examination, including ALL THE INFORMATION specified by state law, in any, NECESSARY TO OBTAIN LENSES FOR EYEGLASSES”. Before Internet optical sites arise, NO PD in RX is not a problem, and opticians can capture this number easily in the store. In the Internet era, the ALL THE NECESSARY info then automatically should INCLUDE the PD which is hotly discussed among ECPs recently. Eyeglass Rule as the only law in the industry of retail RX eyewear, it applies to all likely situations.

To address the safety concerns as pointed our in Ms. Sue’s letter to FTC, that online optical goods may cause harm to public’s eyecare health, FTC for this point  replied that they are following up the cases of online purchase of eyewear and contacts, and so far there is no documentation showing that contacts and eyeglasses bought online are imposing harms to the consumers.

PixelOptics has just recently raised $45M for its electronic lenses. The Roanoke, Va.-based company has raised $35M in equity and $10M in debt funding from Safeguard Scientifics and others to develop new-concept electronic eyeglasses, which like iPhone and iPad, you need to charge the eyeglasses everyday. You can also turn on and off the eyeglasses if you do not use it. The company’s core product, called emPower, has dynamically focusing lenses, allowing the user to turn a reading functionality on when close-up vision is needed.

Pixel-optics’ emPower is supposed to replace the regular bifocals or progressive lenses for middle-aged people. Due to its high cost, some predict the prospect of this high-tech gadget is not that bright.

High tech world never lack new ideas. Here is the new tech which allows battery to turn the bifocal lenses on or off.

A NEW device may be joining smartphones, iPads and music players that you have to charge overnight: electronic eyeglasses. These glasses have tiny batteries, microchips and assorted electronics to turn reading power on when you need it and off when you don’t.

Traditionally, people who hit their 40s often need extra optical help as farsightedness sets in. They may buy bifocals or no-line progressive lenses. But such glasses have a drawback: the lenses that magnify fine print also blur objects more than an arm’s length away when a wearer looks down, distorting the view when on a staircase, for example, or when swinging at a golf ball.

The new electronic spectacles, called emPower, are intended to handle that problem with an unusual insert in the bottom part of the lenses: liquid crystals, cousins to the familiar ones in television displays. The crystals change how the lenses refract or bend light, just as varying levels of thickness do in traditional glasses.

To call up reading power in the new glasses, users touch the side of the frame. Batteries in the frame send along a current that changes the orientation of molecules in the crystals. Touch the side of the frame again, and the reading power disappears. Turn it off to hit a golf ball; turn it on to read the scorecard.

The glasses, made by PixelOptics in Roanoke, Va., will be on the market this spring — first in Virginia and North Carolina, and later in the year nationally, said Dr. Ronald Blum, an optometrist and the company’s president. The estimated price, $1,000 to $1,200, will include frames, lenses, coatings and charger.

Dr. Larry Wan, a managing partner at Family EyeCare Center in Campbell, Calif., tested the glasses with 10 of his patients, all in their 50s. He said they were a hit, for example, with people who had been bothered by blur as they walked down flights of stairs while wearing their glasses. “With these,” he said, “you can turn the reading power off, so they are safer and you don’t have that distortion.”

Of course, you’ll have to remember to charge them, a nuisance required by no ordinary pair of glasses. The charge lasts two to three days, said Larry Rodriguez, an executive at PixelOptics.

But you won’t have to worry if you drop them in the water. “Wipe them off and they should be fine,” he says, although they may require recharging.

The glasses have a parts list associated more with iPods than with optics. The transparent layer of liquid crystals and its electrode array are buried beneath the front surface of the lenses. The eyeglass frames have tiny microchips, rechargeable batteries and wires that supply electricity to the lenses. There are also built-in accelerometers, devices that sense the downward bend of a head, as though to look at a page, that can switch on the reading power automatically.

Although the eyeglasses are loaded with electronics, they don’t look that way, says Jack Loeb of Fisher Island, Fla., who is trying out a pair. “They look just like ordinary, high-end glasses,” he said.

Thirty-six different frames made by Aspex Eyewear will be offered initially, Mr. Rodriguez said. The electronic lenses are being manufactured by the Panasonic Healthcare Company in Japan. The lenses can be popped out and replaced if a prescription changes, Dr. Blum said.

The market for emPower glasses isn’t likely to include the young. “About 80 percent of the people wearing reading glasses are past 40,” said Steve Kodey, director of industry research at the Vision Council, a trade group for eyewear manufacturers and suppliers in Alexandria, Va. But the market is “much bigger than most people realize,” Mr. Kodey says.

Last year, some 20.6 million pairs of progressive lenses, and about 16.2 million pairs of bifocals, were sold in the United States.

If consumers buy emPowers instead of high-end progressive lenses, they will pay a premium. Even in high-end regular glasses, progressive lenses typically go for $300 to $400, Mr. Kodey said. And the average cost of frames is $125 (though there are many higher-cost options for the fashion-conscious.)

LIQUID crystals offer a promising way to bend light in glasses, says Larry Thibos, a professor of optometry at Indiana University, Bloomington, whose research for the last 20 years has included work on electronic spectacles.

“The concept is solid,” he said. You energize the crystals and you have a lens that will then vanish when the power goes off.

Dr. Thibos evaluated prototypes of the glasses for Dr. Blum a decade ago. “The glasses worked fine even then, but they looked geeky,” he said of early versions. The process of bringing the glasses to market — in a stylish form — took 12 years and roughly 275 patents, says Dr. Blum. Financing has been provided by Delphi Ventures, the Carlyle Group, Longitude Capital, Stark Investments, Panasonic Ventures and Life Science Angels, among others.

The work on the new lenses started with the liquid crystals in computers, not in spectacles. In 1999, Dr. Blum and his group were working on ways to help aging eyes read a computer screen. Originally, they had hoped to put the extra reading power directly into the liquid crystal display on the computers, which at that time had thick screens. But as the screens grew thinner, it was no longer practical to do so.

“So we had to take what we’d put into the computer screen and put it into your lenses,” Dr. Blum said.

From: New York Times

The article requested is about buying eyeglasses online.

In the era of buying everything online, eyewear is also trending in this very direction, though this product is lagged greatly behind other products. Prescription eyeglasses are considered medical devices, so people used to feel reluctant to buy them online. Now the situation changes dramatically. After some big players of online optical stores pushing for that and online glasses buyers’ favorable experience of the products, buying eyeglasses is becoming acceptable for many fashion- and budget-conscious customers.

Please write an article about your understanding of online eyeglasses, or write a story about the experience of buying glasses online of yourself or people around you. We will choose one writer of the best article or story, and we will award the winner USD10,000.

Please send the article to Patrick#firmoo.com. We will not use the articles you submit to us. In case we will use it for some reason or other, we will pay reasonable amount of money to you.

All are welcome to hand in your articles for USD10,000.

Firmoo.com

Global Online Optical Store

Recently Consumer Reports surveyed 30000 readers wearing eyeglasses. Based on what the respondents replied, the average price the patients paid for one pair of eyeglasses is still around USD200 which is pretty close the the previous reports.

In US, the types of optical retail can be classified as chain stores, indie optical boutiques and doctor’s office. Among all these stores, Costco Optical ranks the top in term of prices and general services. Costco Optical charges a median of $157 for a pair of eyeglasses, comparing with $211 at independent optical stores and $212 at doctor’s offices.

Among other chain stores, LensCrafters’ median price is $244, while Pearle Vision is around $228. Other big chains, including Vision Works, America’s Best and JCPenny Optical, are rated under average both in pricing and before and after-purchase services.

Reports also reveals that if you do not care about the prices too much, indie stores and doctor’s offices may be better choice in term of general eyeglasses quality and services, especially customers may enjoy professional advices from doctors.

Considering the glasses are also medical devices, if you are not in big rush, the Reports suggests doctor’s offices as the best choice. But if you need your glasses urgently, chain stores like LensCrafters or Pearle Vision may be your better way of choosing stores. The reports also suggests the bespectacled customers not to be slave to brand names, as those quality generic frames are manufactured by the same factories in China which are also licensed to produce the designer named frames. Keeping a clear mind of all the add-ons which are not necessary is another advice from the Consumer Reports.

Online eyeglasses sphere now never lacks exciting news. A German online eyeglasses company, MisterSpex.de, just received another 7 million Euro from capitals including DN capital(DN led this cash injection),  Team Europe Ventures, Astutia Ventures, Grazia Equity, and High-Tech Gunderfunds and Xange, as the series B funding.

Presently MisterSpex mainly focus on the German and European market, selling branded eyeglasses, sunglasses and contacts lenses at much-discounted prices comparing with the local optical stores. In 2009, MisterSpex’s revenue reached 4.5 million Euro, and will likely reach 10 million in 2010. Brands include RayBan, Oakley, Prada, D&G, Tom Ford and all other named ones in the world.

It is reported that MisterSpex is the biggest online optical store in Germany. The recent funding is for expanding awareness of its practice, and increase the market share quickly. It now has 90 employees, and 50 are permanent employees. FramesDirect.com in Texas is its counterpart, selling similar glasses in USA and throughout the world.

Based on the retail prices on the website and its total 2009 revenue, and its prospective 2010 sales, the daily order quantity is guesstimated at 50-100 pairs a day. This is really a trivial quantity.  But with MisterSpex receiving its series B funding from so many Venture Capitals, it means the capital market accepts the business model of selling eyeglasses online.

A group of scientists from Sweden and Canada has successfully developed a kind of bioartificial cornea for implanting onto the eyes of people with damaged natural cornea. This new finding will help restore sight or part of the sight for those patients, with the help of eyeglasses.

Ten people in Sweden who received a bioartificial cornea were able to regrow their own corneal cells and restore their vision. Corneas are naturally made of collagen, so researchers grew it in yeast and molded it into a lens shape so it would act as a scaffolding. The damaged layer was removed and the bioartificial one implanted. Not only did a line of healthy corneal cells grew in the implanted collagen, but corneal nerves regrew and tear production went back to normal in these individuals. No one rejected the transplant. Patients were followed for two years and six had improved vision with eyeglasses and two were stable. One challenge for future research is to address the 90 percent of corneal problems that are full thickness and not just in the upper layer as they were in this study.

Source is here.

As I wrote about before about TruFocals and PixelOptics, NASA is testing the above two types of adjustable bifocal lenses during training, and possibly will choose one to be used on the mission to the space.

Just like any other people over 40s, most of the astronauts who are sent to the space are over 40, therefore they also develop vision problem called presbyopia, not to say that more other non-astronaut people such as scientists and even tourists will be sent to the space. So the demand of bifocal lenses are pretty high in the space. Before NASA considers to use TruFocals and PixelOptics’ adjustable lenses, people in the space used to wear normal bifocals and progressive lenses if they have additional vision error other that presbyopia. Experiences show these types of eyeglasses do not fulfill a successful job in offering vision correction in the space environment and in heavy space gear. In addition, the vision of the people in the space will suffer degeneration thanks to microgravity.  In this case, the original bifocals with fixed lenses could not address the further vision problems that have deteriorated recently during the space mission. Under these circumstances, it seems the only choice is to resort to lenses like TruFocals which are fully adjustable within some range.

NASA’s primary interest in adjustable eyeglasses has been as a replacement for the normal reading glasses, bifocals or progressive lenses that astronauts take with them into space. The small corrective zone on these conventional eyeglasses is fine for the normal reading posture (with the eyes looking through the lower portion of the lens) but is much less helpful when monitoring overhead readouts, for example. The agency is also studying the long-term effects of time spent in microgravity, which causes bodily fluids to gravitate to the upper body and has been known to cause degradation of vision in some astronauts. Once more is understood about how prolonged space travel affects vision and why, NASA will be in a better position to address the problem, either with the help of adjustable-lens glasses or some other means, according to Gibson.

If the test goes on smoothly, NASA will soon annouce which lenses will be deployed for astronauts and other space people who may need presbyopic correction.

Oakley.com just launches a model of Split Thump MP3 Sunglasses to attract people with hectic life styles.

MP3 sunglasses are not new in the industry. This new Oakley sunglasses have a built-in MP3 on the temples, with two removable ear buds near the ears. Wearers can control the music on the frames, and the music can be downloaded from computer just the same like iPod or other MP3 players.

This fancy gadget is not expensive. According to Oakley.com, it is only $175. Comparing with a normal MP3 player, the MP3 sunglasses from Oakley eliminate the annoyance of the wires wobbling around your arms and chest, which brings some extent of conveniences. But other concerns arise. With the inherent music players on the temples the total weight of sunglasses will be greatly increased, though it is claimed that the sunglasses have firm grip on the ears. The second concern will be the inconvenient control of the buttons on the frames which can not be seen by the wearers. The third concern will the possible audio quality of such a cheap 2 in 1 gadget. For most of the music fans, the audio quality is considered as the top priority.

I guess most people won’t like this gadget, though it sounds like cool! People still love stand-alone iPod and a pair of Oakley sunglasses!

Do you ever think of the two temples of your eyeglasses storing a pair of chopsticks? Yes, it is here! See the picture.

Those fancy inventor did this! The concept was reported about two years ago, so this is actually not news. The reason why I think it worth mentioning now is that 2010 is the time every state in the world is talking about green energy and low carbon life. This reusable chopsticks for travelers help reduce the consumption of forest wood, and this Stix Glasses are especially good in the countries where people mainly use chopsticks to eat.

One thing to concern is that by holding the one such bold stick inside the temple, the aesthetics of the eyeglasses as fashion accessory will be greatly tarnished, are there really any people who will use such glasses for all day wear?

Story idea from EOH, Thanks EOH

Here are some of the comments from netizens:

1. As a glasses wearer, this idea stinks.

2. As a glasses enthusiast, this idea stinks.. of old ramen seasoning. But with proper cleaning, this idea = WIN

3. Why not just carry chopsticks in your bag, pocket etc. etc. You can get disposable ones so you don’t have to carry the dirty ones. How about glasses with a knife and fork in each of the stems so when you travel in the orient you don’t have to worry if the place only has chopsticks