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.

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.

Bausch & Lomb is recalling a number of lots of its ReNu Multi-Purpose Solution and ReNu MultiPlus MPS in Europe and other countries.

B+L explained that the recall does not necessarily mean safety and efficacy problems. After routine test by the company, it is found the recalled batches are safe and effective if used as instucted, but it does not meet the expectations of quality control process of B+L. This shows B+L is a responsible company.

Though there were no reports about the adverse effects from above recalled solutions, the stability monitor programme aims to eliminate any possible problems that may occur months later.

B+L also stated that they are going to withdraw a single batch of (AA120) of 120ml ReNu MultiPlus MPS in Croatia, Dubai, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. This only represents 0.1% of the batch. B+L has informed the eyeglasses retailers and eye care providers the specific steps to return these batches.

In the history,  B+L recalled ReNu MoistureLoc in May 2006. The reason for the recall was its formulation. It was found that its formation, if combined with certain use patterns, will likely to cause an increased risk of eye disease of fusarium keratitis.

It is reported that the scientists in MIT has developed a set of software and hardware to self-check the eyes and can get full RX. But at the same time, scientists say this device can not replace the trip to optometrists in case of any eye diseases.

Just 2 minutes and 2 dollars and a mobile phone are now all it takes to obtain an eyeglass prescription. Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new application for smart phones that, when combined with a slim, affordable lens, could give cheap but also precise eyeglass prescriptions to smart phone users. This research may help enormous amounts of people around the world see better with regard to a reduced amount of dollars.

“Most ophthalmalogic equipment vary from simple eye charts to costly autorefractors,” mentioned Ramesh Raskar, a scientist at MIT who seem to present the application at the upcoming SIGGRAPH 2010 Conference.

“We are somewhere in between. Right here you just use your mobile phone and a low-priced optical plate to align a series of patterns.”

This combined app and monitor operates like a traditional, analogue camera with a manual focus lens. In contrast to modern day digital cameras, which focus completely on its own, the new app and screen needs the user to bring patterns into focus. Just after loading the app, a user attaches a short, conical viewfinder (around $2 currently, although Raskar believes this will soon decrease to fifty cents) to the screen of their high resolution mobile phones and looks in. A series of patterns appear. The user aligns the patterns by simply pressing buttons on the mobile phone. The more button pushed, the worse a individual’s vision. The application repeats this process four times, one for every axis regarding the eyes. Throughout the procedure the application as well measures other irregularities, including astigmatism. As soon as almost all the patterns have been lined up the application issues a person’s eyeglass prescription. Start to finish that needs about 2 minutes to deliver a full prescription.

Right now the new approach is exactly as precise as present ophthalmalogic devices, and much, far cheaper than many others. Within a couple of months the Near-Eye Tool for Refractive Assessment (or NETRA) device will be a lot more accurate than most lenses, stated Raskar. The application may possess its constraints. Only cell phones with a high resolution touch screen, for example the Nexus One or the iPhone, could run this app. This application is also only useful with regard to people who can react to the directions on the screen; most kids could not work with the application.

This application could not substitute visits to optometrist, explained Raskar. Optometrists integrate a person’s medical related background as well as additional aspects into a ultimate spectacles prescription. Further than the accuracy and reliability associated with a patient’s eyeglasses though, optometrists additionally examine regarding eye disorders such as macular degeneration and cataracts. This MIT application do not check for medical conditions which might disable an individual involving his or her eyesight, at the very least not at the moment, claimed Raskar. Incorporating illness prognosis towards this app is one objective of the team.

This 1st stage has been developing the application. The up coming stage is to deploy it, initially in the United States and later all over the globe. MIT will be doing the job with different NGOs in various nations to aid distribute both the application and the viewfinder, which together will be recognized at PerfectSight. Within just three to six months Raskar expects to get all the things prepared to roll out globally.

“What is truly great regarding this particular challenge is that this could be implemented throughout the world,” mentioned David Brady, an optical professional and professor at the Duke University. “Individuals may not get good accessibility to premium ophthalmologic devices, but throughout the world there is good accessibility to mobile phones.”

“This is an amazingly simple strategy that offers you a very good measurement of a person’s eye prescription,” he stated.

My question is: can the people in Africa who can not access eye doctors afford to buy iPhone 4 or Nexus One? In most of the cases, people with iPhone will sure afford to buy doctor’s service.  So is this technology really practical for the poor?

Did you ever hear about the iPhone application for purchasing eyeglasses online? Perfect Glasses USA is just launching this fantastic service.

Perfect Glasses USA, a Huntington Beach, California company is proud to declare the launch of its innovative iPhone application! With this free brand new iGlassesUSA application, any iphone owner can now carry the complete Perfect Glasses USA shop just in your fingertips and view plus purchase the perfect pair of glasses out of anywhere! This application will allow users to look for through various brands of prescription glasses as well as sunglasses right on their apple iphone, including that widest selection involving varied Paul Frank styles readily available on the internet. Customers could pick out the particular appropriate pair of glasses for your appearance form and style without difficulty by using this specific software package, as well as show friends the products you bought online.

Perfect Glasses USA strives to transform the means people acquire discount spectacles along with eyeglasses mainly by the web-based approach of internet commerce and the convenience of web purchases. Mr. Thompson had mentioned, “There is no need in today’s tech advances to get into a store and purchase eyeglasses anymore. Perfect Glasses USA offer the greatest high quality glasses with a fair cost, and there is simply no way any other on-line competition can come close to their exceptional quality and speedy shipping time. With Perfect Glasses USA you will spend less by 60% off retail store prices, all the while resting assured that they tend to be backed by 60 years regarding experience in optics and manufacturing as well as offering a cozy buying environment with a Huntington Beach after services.

In the event that you don’t have an iPhone or any apps, no worries! You will be in a position to check out the official website online at http://www.perfectglassesusa.com which is nevertheless the user-friendly as well as effective web terminal , or you will be able to wait not so long for Perfect Glasses USA’s future upcoming Android mobile phone app. Visit us now and uncover the perfect pair of eyeglasses or trendy sunglasses for you!

Benjamin Franklin would be boastful. The pioneer who seems to love playing together with electricity and allegedly designed this bifocals may well have been glad to know that an individual company has now brought the particular two elements with each other: PixelOptics has designed a pair of powered glasses which could monitor eye balls as well as automatically modify your eyeglasses’s focal length, depending on just in case the wearer needs to see close area or distant one.

The glasses utilize liquid crystals, which will can change exactly how they bend light when an electrical current runs through these. A video recording demonstration of what a wearer might notice is available on the company’s website, and the organization hopes that the glasses will end up being available in the United States earlier than the end of 2010.

Peter Zieman, director of European sales for PixelOptics, stated this device uses motion tracking software program similar to the iPhone, and told The Telegraph:

“In essence, glasses haven’t transformed all that much ever since these were initially developed. The most recent improvement was transition lenses that can change the tint in sunshine, but actually this had been fifteen years ago. Our glasses provide contemporary technology to an old alternative.”

Perhaps Zieman doesn’t offer other eyeglasses inventors enough credit; for instance, in 2008 a retired physics professor Josh Silver created a pair of fluid-filled spectacles that can change power while the amount of liquid inside changed.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jun 14, 2010 –The Canada’s online optical sales giant  Coastal Contacts Inc today announced today that in the not-so-far future, the sales of online eyeglasses will outnumber the sales of contatcs, in its financial results for the second fiscal quarter, period ended April 30, 2010. This is an exciting result in the time of economic downturn.

According to the report, sales of eyeglasses grew to $4.7 million (net of returns and cancellations) an increase of 136% over the same period in 2009. Sales in Canada grew 43% during the six months ended April 30, 2010. Sales in the United States grew 32% during the six months ended April 30, 2010 and 55% when excluding the effects of foreign exchange rate fluctuations.

Mr. Roger Hardy, Coastal’s President and CEO, commented, “Coastal continues to demonstrate organic growth in the contact lens category in key markets around the world, particularly in Canada and the United States. Our commitment to providing the highest level of customer service is resulting in a growing number of repeat orders and is increasing the life time value of our customer database. The eyeglasses category is experiencing rapid growth, again mainly in North America, and given the overall size of the global market, we believe has the potential to eventually become a larger business than Coastal’s contact lens business.

In approximately two years we have built a significant eyeglasses business that culminated in over 60,000 pairs of eyeglasses being shipped during the quarter and $4.7 million in sales, predominantly in North America. This quarter’s operating results are consistent with the financial model we used to establish our $20 million eyeglasses sales goal this year. We are significantly expanding the capacity of our North American eyeglasses facility to address consumer demand.”

Coastal noted the following operational highlights during the second fiscal quarter 2010:

–  Coastal reported that the Ministry of Health in British Columbia

modernized the regulations regarding the ability of consumers to

purchase contact lenses and eyeglasses on the Internet, making vision

care products more affordable and accessible.

–  Coastal secured a $5 million revolving line of credit from the Bank of

America, bringing the total cash accessible from existing credit

facilities to $8.5 million, none of which had been drawn at April 30,

2010.

Above results of sales by Coastal partially attribute to the deregulation of online optical sales by BC government which is the first regional government to announce the rules from government’s perspectives.

There is news about the things going on at Lenscrafters, a giant in the optical industry. The most attractive to the public may probably be the very last sentence in the internal communication about the security. One point is sure that if an employee is forced to take that step, it is really crappy. There are some important factors associated with the internal communication. Out of respect, the principle will communicate first with associates who are part of the reduction and restructure. After that, both those associates’ immediate supervisors and nearby team members will be informed of such changes. This will help them make further work transitions, which are mostly needed. Then broader communication will be made. One aspect involves the whole company and another one is between each department. All departments should communicate with each other about specific changes to their area regarding people, processes and transition plans.

A key point of the internal communication about reduction and restructure which involve associates is to protect privacy. The best practice is not to publish the names of impacted associates. In addition, the information of changes should be prevented from being gained by social media sites. Lenscrafters maintains a secure system which supports the manager team to share information about impacted associates in a respectful, appropriate and timely manner. All communication is made on a need to know basis. The two sides need to be well balanced that one is the desire to protect the privacy of those impacted associates and the other is to share necessary information for work transition.

Lenscrafters has eliminated many open positions as part of its strategy, which aims to reduce as many positions as possible while minimizing impact on current associates. And some associates being reassigned will be filling open positions which have been decided to remain untouched. By February 5^th, all updated open positions will be published. Lenscrafters also gets help from a representative from Anthem’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

ASOS Chicos

Recently, Essilor issued a new action, which has been probably testified by the Vision Source meeting last week. In brief, Essilor has much probably taken a 51% stake of the Vision Source, gaining a controlling status. This can simply be considered as a buying movement or acquisition. For most of the reporters in the optical field, it is just a logical step taken by Essilor, who has long aimed to become the largest monopoly in the optical community. Currently, Essilor is maintaining the largest lab network in the world. Earlier before, Essilor bought FGX and gained direct access to consumer chain for reading glasses and sunglasses. In addition, even the largest online glasses website Framesdirect.com has close partnership with Essilor. Some people guess that the final purpose of Essilor is to buy the website. Over the years, products from Essilor have been considered pricey. All these movements thus are believed by some customers to build Essilor as the only leader in the optical industry.

Except for the fact that Essilor has never cracked down on grey lab sales, this group continues to cover all fields of the optical mafia by controlling Vision Source. Essilor is buying up everyone that has been considered as any barrier to its continued growth. It has also been reported that Essilor had an attempt to buy independent labs and then shut them down, as part of its strategy. This is aimed to gain a greater market share for its ELoA labs. This new action of buying Vision Source is widely believed to be a tiny step of this strategy.

Who is Vision Source? Owning 4,000 independent optometry practices, Vision Source is the largest independent optometry buying group in the world. The company works much like Amway. There are words in the field that “Vision Source is the optical equivalent of Amway”. Its long term members make profit while the company is still recruiting new members.

Luxottica is a global leader in designing, manufacturing and distribution of eyewear. Its eyewear products cover styles of fashion, luxury and sports. The company has been a market leader and its retail brands are well-known in the optical industry. Until September 30 of 2009, Luxottica Group had operated 2,939 optical stores across North America, including LensCrafters and Pearle Vision. But there is a further plan in Luxottica. This optical giant is seeking to get income by going into a new direction. During the past years, Luxottica has never succeeded in selling eyewear products through the Internet. Now, top officials in Luxottica think it is the time to bridge this gap.

On December 15^th, Luxottica announced a strategic, multi-year ecommerce alliance with drugstore.com, which is a leading online retailer of health, beauty, vision and pharmacy products. The simple goal of such an alliance is to expand online access to Luxottica’s contact lenses in the North American market, improving the company’s North American business. Luxottica wanted to utilize drugstore.com’s ecommerce platform and strength in online technology, marketing, customer care and fulfillment. This may be the simplest way for Luxottica to start online business. In detail, the leading online contact lens retailer Vision Direct under drugstore.com will conduct details of the cooperation. Vision Direct will help Luxottica Group develop branded contact lens ecommerce sites and provide customer care and fulfillment services.

This alliance has received satisfactory comments from both sides. The Executive Vice President of Luxottica named Valerio Giacobbi said that the agreement with drugstore.com would significantly help Luxottica achieve the goal to attract more customers, improving their acknowledge of contact lenses as an important vision care option. According to the CEO and Chairman of the Board of drugstore.com, the cooperation with Luxottica represented an unparalleled opportunity for drugstore.com to extend its partnership strategy. In the future, the two companies may conduct further cooperation in other related areas such as Luxottica’s wholesale business.